Financing Options for Devolved Government in the UK

This study provides a comprehensive overview of the financing options for devolved government in the UK. Starting with a discussion of the present situation, the consequences and the possible future of the Barnett formula, the key economic and political principles for devolution finance are examined and then applied to possible financing options. The conclusion draws together the main points of the analysis and comments on the alternatives for funding the devolved administrations. While currently there appears to be considerable cross-party support for the Barnett system, it continues to be a contentious arrangement, with some observers even talking of a “fiscal crisis” (McLean (2005)). The paper therefore reviews the strengths and weaknesses of the present system, together with suggestions for possible changes.

Fiscal decentralisation and local level gender responsive budgeting in Morocco: Some observations.

Fiscal decentralisation ; Gender ; Morocco

Assignment of functions to local authorities in Lesotho

In Lesotho the adoption of the new constitution in 1993 made provision for local development. These constitutional provisions were only operationalised in 1997 through an Act of parliament (Local Government Act 1997). The question of how functions are assigned between the central and local governments has always been an area of dispute. The Act attempted to demarcate the assignments through the Schedules to the Act which embody the functions of local authorities at various levels – community councils, urban councils and district councils. However, local development and service delivery continue by and large to be undertaken by central government despite the demarcation. The purpose of this paper, therefore, is to critically analyse the challenges of assignment of functions to local authorities in Lesotho. The paper contends that as the assignment of functions is integral to decentralisation in Lesotho, intergovernmental relations and assignment of functions should be incorporated into the country’s constitution

Fiscal decentralisation in Europe : a review of recent experience

In this paper we review countries' diverse experiences to draw conclusions on the pitfalls and opportunities that are open through decentralisation of governments' fiscal responsibilities to sub-central jurisdictions. We begin by reviewing the theoretical arguments for and against the decentralisation of spending responsibilities. We also provide a cross country comparison of the extent to which spending powers have been devolved in a range of European countries, putting each country's position into a wider context. Second, we review some insights from the theory of fiscal federalism on fiscal autonomy and assess the extent of autonomy at subcentral tiers of government in the same set of countries. We discuss the approaches that have been followed, and a number of the difficulties that particular countries have faced, as the fiscal autonomy of sub-central tiers of government has evolved. Our conclusions are set out in the final section

Without purpose and strategy?: a spatio-functional analysis of the regional allocation of public investment in Greece

We utilise a large database on public investment at the prefecture (NUTS-3) level in Greece for the period 1976-2008 to examine the spatial and functional allocation of public investment in the country. We investigate the extent to which expenditures in different types of public investment are complementary across space and over time and examine their redistributive character. We also analyse regional specialisations and the geographical concentration of public investments and complementarily use an exploratory spatial data analysis to examine the extent of clustering of public investment and identify possible patterns in the geography of clusters and hotspots. Although our analysis uses predominantly descriptive tools, our results have confirmatory power, as they reveal a surprisingly random pattern for the spatial and functional allocation of public investment in Greece, thus raising important questions about the rationale for these allocations and, by implication, about the geographical, political and economic dynamics that underlie them. These questions obtain an additional salience in light of the administrative and fiscal reforms pursued currently by the Greek government under the pressure of the country’s sovereign debt crisis

Gender responsive budgeting and fiscal decentralisation in India: A preliminary appraisal.

Fiscal decentralisation ; Gender

Devolution, Accountability, and Service Delivery in Pakistan

This paper examines into the relationship between devolution, accountability, and service delivery in Pakistan by examining the degree of accessibility of local policy-makers and the level of competition in local elections, the expenditure patterns of local governments to gauge their sectoral priorities, and the extent to which local governments are focused on patronage, or providing targeted benefits to a few as opposed to providing public goods. The main findings of the paper are threefold. First, the accessibility of policy-makers to citizens in Pakistan is unequivocally greater after devolution, and local government elections are, with some notable exceptions, as competitive as national and provincial elections. Second, local government sectoral priorities are heavily tilted towards the provision of physical infrastructure—specifically, roads, water and sanitation, and rural electrification—at the expense of education and health. Third, this sectoral prioritisation is in part a dutiful response to the relatively greater citizen demands for physical infrastructure; in part a reflection of the local government electoral structure that gives primacy to village and neighbourhood-specific issues; and in part a reaction to provincial initiatives in education and health that have taken the political space away from local governments in the social sectors, thereby encouraging them to focus more towards physical infrastructure.State and Local Government, Inter-government Relations, Political Processes, Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behaviour, Publically Provided Goods

Devolution, accountability, and service delivery : some insights from Pakistan

This paper studies the relationship between devolution, accountability, and service delivery in Pakistan. It examines the degree of accessibility of local policy-makers and the level of competition in local elections, the expenditure patterns of local governments to gauge their sector priorities, and the extent to which local governments are focused on patronage or the provision of targeted benefits to a few as opposed to providing public goods. The main findings of the paper are three-fold. First, the accessibility of policy-makers to citizens in Pakistan is unequivocally greater after devolution, and local government elections are, with some notable exceptions, as competitive as national and provincial elections. Second, local government sector priorities are heavily tilted toward the provision of physical infrastructure - specifically, roads, water and sanitation, and rural electrification - at the expense of education and health. Third, this sector prioritization is in part a dutiful response to the relatively greater citizen demands for physical infrastructure; in part a reflection of the local government electoral structure that gives primacy to village and neighborhood-specific issues, and in part a reaction to provincial initiatives in education and health that have taken the political space away from local governments in the social sectors, thereby encouraging them to focus more toward physical infrastructure.E-Government,Public Sector Corruption&Anticorruption Measures,E-Government,Public Sector Economics&Finance,Transport Economics Policy&Planning