This paper investigates the socioeconomic impact of fiscal decentralization in Pakistan. The time-series sample during 1982-2018 is divided between pre and post-periods of the 7th National Finance Commission (NFC) Award of 2009. The socioeconomic impacts were separated into growth, education, and health. Results found that there is a positive long-run relationship across the variables. At the same time, the total effect from composite decentralization has positively impacted economic growth and education but none to the health sector after the 7th NFC award. The outcomes have been elaborated with socioeconomic analysis. The study also provides policy recommendations based on empirical outcomes.
Local government is one of the most important pillars of good governance of a society, an important indicator to express the essential role it has in the sustainable development (SD) of a country. The reforms undertaken in Albania in terms of increasing the fiscal and functional capacity of local government, connect it more and more with all components of SD. The use and maximization of the capacities of the local government in order to improve the basic goals of SD, is supported not only by the theoretical connection of functions but also by the experience of developed countries with a deep decentralization. In Albania, the local government receives revenues in the form of central government transfers and its own. These revenues are used by the local government to finance public services that have a direct impact on the lives of citizens but also to improve the quality of life. Both forms of local government revenue are at full discretion to be used by local selfgovernment units and to improve measurable indicators of increasing the quality of public services and financing sustainable development.
Since the emergence of environmental federalism theory in the 1960s, the empirical research on it has been pursued by scholars, mainly focusing on whether a country’s environmental regulation should be centralized or decentralized. For a long time, countries have been actively exploring and putting environmental governance systems into practice for themselves, especially at present, in the face of multiple constraints of resources, environment, sustainable development power and other factors. How to build an appropriate environmental governance system and promote the level of green development by encouraging enterprises’ technological innovation is a practical problem to be solved urgently. Based on this, this paper constructs a new research framework of environmental decentralization—technological innovation—green total factor productivity (GTFP) and investigates the effect and mechanism of environmental decentralization on GTFP. The results show that environmental decentralization can reduce the quality of environmental information disclosure and inhibit the innovative output of enterprises, ultimately leading to the decrease of GTFP. Environmental decentralization has a spatial spillover effect on GTFP, which can promote GTFP in neighboring areas. This paper tries to enrich the research results of traditional environmental federalism theory, the “Porter Hypothesis”, and growth pole theory, and it provides a solution to enterprises’ financing constraint problem.
This paper outlines the key complexities in applying traditional tax principles to proof of stake – or staking – rewards. How staking activities and rewards are characterised is fundamental to determine how a jurisdictions tax rules will ultimately apply. Core issues for taxing staking rewards surround arguments around four key interrelated themes: (i) dilution and realisation (ii) passivity and the performance of services (iii) validators and delegators and (iv) minting new tokens and transaction fees. This paper presents an exploration of some of the key tax principles relevant to staking rewards, drawing on legislation, precedent and guidance across Australia and the United States of America to exemplify the challenges therein. In doing so, this paper examines the role of the staker, the theoretical diluting effect of minting staking rewards, income characterisation and the challenges of residency and source. Such considerations highlight that the bespoke, decentralised nature of staking means that jurisdictional claims and overlaps will challenge taxpayers and tax authorities in the tax compliance function.
The literature continues to debate the effects of democracy and fiscal capacity on economic growth, both partially and jointly. To remedy the literature puzzle, this study examines the economic growth effects of democracy and fiscal capacity in 34 Indonesian provinces from 2016 to 2021. Using a fixed-effect model, this study documents no evidence of a partial effect; rather, it finds a joint effect of democracy and fiscal capacity on Indonesian economic growth. These findings remain relatively robust even when provincial heterogeneity, COVID-19 pandemic shocks, and sectoral composition are factored into the model. This finding indicates that regions with democracy and strong fiscal capacity possess relatively fast per capita GRDP growth. Based on these findings, the study concludes that democracy and fiscal capacity should exist side by side. Indonesia's sub-national economic growth strategy, like a tango game, requires reforming two types of decentralization: political decentralization to improve the quality of democracy that upholds the merit system and fiscal decentralization to expand local tax capacity to finance public goods productively.
Cenay Babaoğlu, Lucie Sobotková, Martin Sobotka, Murat Altuğ Köktaş · 5 authors
Abstract The article deals with the issue of fiscal decentralization in relation to compliance with fiscal discipline at the municipal level. The article evaluates the situation of selected Czech and Turkish cities. In the case of Czech cities, so-called statutory cities were selected, which, due to their size and budget, have a certain independence from the central government. In the case of Turkish cities, the largest ones were analyzed, which also have a high degree of autonomy due to their size. The unifying element of both samples is approximately similar financing conditions. In both cases, shared taxes are used, but they are in the hands of the central government, and the municipalities have no possibility to influence them. In the case of municipalities, they can receive subsidies from the central government. From the perspective of fiscal responsibility management, relations with the central government appear to be a stabilizing element. However, at the same time, strengthening revenues associated with local government could also support fiscal discipline. In particular, this possibility would be significant in the case of smaller municipalities when the share of local income in total income is increasing. Another option for discussion is the availability of debt financial instruments. In the case of Turkish cities, fiscal discipline is significantly correlated with external debt. Although Czech municipalities can easily access debt financial instruments, they cannot use foreign financing. JEL Classification: C33, C35, H71, H72, H77
Due to a lack of focus on China’s financial decentralization system, the existing research does not pay attention to the beneficial contribution of Chinese local governments to carbon emission reduction through their actions in the financial field. In this study, we collected 16 years of data from 30 provinces in China and utilized a two-way fixed-effects model to empirically test the impact of China’s financial decentralization on carbon emission reduction. The regression results show that China’s financial decentralization system has a significant carbon-emission reduction effect. A heterogeneity analysis shows that this effect is common in different regions of China and that fiscal decentralization will negatively moderate it. A mechanism analysis shows that under China’s financial decentralization system, the active intervention of local governments in local finance will significantly upgrade the energy consumption structure and ease the financing constraints of enterprises. The regression results of the spatial econometric model show that the carbon emission reduction effect of China’s financial decentralization still has a spatial spillover effect. Finally, we put forward corresponding policy recommendations.
The fiscal dimension of decentralization covers the assignment of public spending responsibilities to subnational governments (SNGs), and how these are financed through local taxes, transfers, and borrowing. Revenues from local tax powers are inadequate and the scope for borrowing is limited for most SNGs outside wealthy urban areas. Consequently, the main source of financing for the local spending responsibilities of most SNGs is, and will remain, fiscal transfers (i.e., revenue-sharing and unconditional and conditional grant mechanisms). These show a wide variety of types and features around Asia. The challenge is to design such mechanisms in ways that promote equity in public spending across the national territory, and impart the right degree of local flexibility and the right incentives for SNGs.
This article contributes to the limited empirical literature on the impact of decentralization on psychological wellbeing by investigating the hypothesis which signifies that shifts toward more fiscal decentralization in health services would be accompanied by improvements in health outcomes. Formulating a conventional public finance model applied to health care, this hypothesis is tested on a panel data of the Pakistan's provinces during the period 1990 to 2015. The empirical underpinning of the article suggested that the economic reforms of 2001 in Pakistan's healthcare sector, through fiscal decentralization, have imposed a substantial and positive influence on the effectiveness of the public policy in improving the healthcare outcomes over the examined period.
Financing regional government involves trade-offs between own-source taxes and grants. Improved accountability has been an argument behind calls for greater tax devolution, but this argument relies upon effective scrutiny mechanisms existing or being developed. This paper explores such issues through the lens of recent tax devolution to Scotland. Drawing on insights from senior stakeholders, we assess how scrutiny has changed in the aftermath of new powers. We conclude that, despite some improvements, progress has been limited. We develop an analytical framework to understand why, drawing out lessons for improving accountability with fiscal decentralization.
Andrew Aondohemba Chengе, Abel Ehizojie Oigbochie, Emem Udoh
Fiscal decentralization has become fashionable regardless of the levels of development and civilization of societies. Nations are turning to devolution to improve the performance of their public sectors. Fiscal federalism is concerned with the allocation of government resources, tax-raising powers, and spending powers to the various tiers of government. Despite the existing fiscal arrangement in the country, backed by the constitution, revenue deficits continue to impede government performance at all levels. The study aims to assess the impact of fiscal federalism on the structure of public spending in Nigeria. Friedman's theory of public expenditure was used as the theoretical underpinning of the study. The study adopted a mixed methodological approach to carry out the investigation. Documentary sources were used for data collection, while data analysis was done using descriptive statistics and content analysis. Findings of the study revealed that revenue yields had continued to dwindle in Nigeria at both national and sub-national levels between 2011 and 2021. The decline in government revenue yields was factored in by the fall in global oil prices and the lethargic nature of the non-oil sector. The study also established that the consequence of the feeble revenue base was that resultant government spending was directed more towards financing recurrent expenditure at the detriment of capital expenditure, thus crippling the drive to spur economic development. The study recommends that it is critical for the government to: Obliterate the present monolithic oil economy by emphasizing economic diversification to boost the financial base of the country and Prioritize public spending in favor of capital expenditure to propel economic growth and development.
<strong>Abstract:</strong> Local authority autonomy is critical for effective and efficient delivery of services to the people. One of the objectives of this study was to design a framework that seeks to address the challenges associated with attainment of local authority autonomy. The purpose of the framework was to support local authorities so that they participate in the implementation of development as per the needs of the people at the local level in Zambia. The study develops a framework for achieving decentralisation as an initiative for supporting public participation and local authority autonomy. The study establishes that local authorities in Zambia primarily financed through a system of intergovernmental transfers or grants, do not have adequate revenue base to guarantee fiscal autonomy and, are bogged down by limitless political interferences and regulations. In order to guarantee autonomy of local government, the study develops a framework through a pragmatic approach. Data is collected using purposive and critical case sampling, through person-to-person interviews, questionnaire interviews as well as secondary data through literature reviews and content analysis of local authority project documents. The sample size for the questionnaire was 103 computed at ninety-five percent confidence level with a five percent confidence interval. The framework was validated by 17 experts in the local government sector; that were involved in the implementation of both grant and locally financed projects. The study argues that the proposed framework could enhance decentralization and improve local authority autonomy in Zambia and the paper suggests that local government should intensify on internal revenue generation. <strong>Keywords:</strong> local government finance, local government framework, central government grants, fiscal autonomy, decentralization. <strong>Title:</strong> Achieving Fiscal Sustainability in Zambia’s Local Government: Designing a Local Government Framework <strong>Author:</strong> Moffat Tembo, Dr. Erastus Misheng’u Mwanaumo <strong>International Journal of Recent Research in Interdisciplinary Sciences (IJRRIS)</strong> <strong>ISSN 2350-1049</strong> <strong>Vol. 9, Issue 3, July 2022 - September 2022</strong> <strong>Page No: 33-46</strong> <strong>Paper Publications</strong> <strong>Website: www.paperpublications.org</strong> <strong>Published Date: 02-August-2022</strong> <strong>DOI: </strong><strong>https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6952792</strong> <strong>Paper Download Link (Source)</strong> <strong>https://www.paperpublications.org/upload/book/Achieving%20Fiscal%20Sustainability-02082022-4.pdf</strong>
This paper investigates the spatial diffusion of an intergovernmental grant in Benin. Using static and dynamic spatial models, we estimate the spillover effects of the Fonds d’Appui au Développement des Communes (FADeC) on per capita local government expenditure in the 77 municipalities from 2008 to 2015. Neighborliness – a measure of interdependence – is captured through geographic and distance-based spatial weighting schemes. In addition, we constructed a measurement of ethnic affinity as an alternative spatial weighting scheme to test for the existence of an ethno-spatial interdependence in local public finance in Benin. The empirical results suggest that a statistically significant share of the total effects of the FADeC stems from indirect elasticities or the diffusion process of grants received by neighboring jurisdictions, regardless of how we measure neighborliness. The results also confirm the existence of a robust ethno-spatial interdependence and complementarity in local government expenditure in Benin. The spillovers across ethnic neighbors are estimated to be 13.9% of the total effects in the short-run and 15.5% in the long-run. Put differently, the effects of the FADeC in a given municipality are influenced by the transfers received by its ethnic (and linguistic) neighbors. The findings point to the appeal of inter-governmental transfers for the decentralized financing of public services, especially in low-income countries where local bureaucratic capacity in raising own-source revenues might be limited. Supporting local governments with well-structured grants can not only be a channel to foster local public provision but also contribute to pushing geographic or ethnic neighboring localities to increase their own spending and generate positive spillovers that are crucial for wholistic regional development.
Nepal has adopted a course of federal governance by transferring expenditure and revenue functions to sub-national government in the form of fiscal federalism. Nevertheless, in recent years, fiduciary risks have been frequently discussed topics in fiscal federalism. This article provides some conceptual framework of fiduciary risks with particular focus on local finance. This descripto-analytical article briefly examines the relationship between the level of fiscal decentralization and fiduciary risks at local government as well. Despite some methodological limitations of cross-sectional regression analysis, it is found that the level of fiscal decentralization is associate with fiduciary risks. This provides some hints for precaution. Government of Nepal should help local government to improve their level of fiduciary governance.
<em>Female human capital is particularly a crucial pathway for the development of an economy as women consist of half of human resources. Despite the increasing trend of fiscal decentralization for the improvement of various socioeconomic indicators in Pakistan, there are very few attempts on its impact on human capital. This study increases the knowledge by empirically estimating the research hypothesis that how fiscal decentralization affects female human capital in Pakistan with 18th amendment in NFC as a backdrop taking the period from 1975 to 2020. The robust analysis shows that fiscal decentralization policy is helpful to frame female human capital in Pakistan. These results are particularly important for policy formulation for provinces to increase female human capital as well as for public finance sector in Pakistan.</em>
Existing literature has examined a plethora of factors that can affect the effectiveness, performance or nature of fiscal policy in an economy. In this paper we build on the fundamental tenets of micro-economic models to examine the potential ways cryptocurrencies can affect the effectiveness of a country’s fiscal policy. Our finding is that under the assumptions of an absence of uncertainties, perfectly competitive markets, household utility maximization, and usage of public money and cryptocurrency, the government purchases as well as the ability of the government to raise funds by issuing bonds and by taxation is decreasing in new investments in cryptocurrencies but increasing in the income earned from cryptocurrencies. We go further to discuss the factors that account for the sustained ability of cryptocurrencies to weaken the state’s fiscal-policy capabilities and possible ways the effects of cryptocurrencies on the state’s fiscal integrity can be mitigated.
Over the last few decades, the financing of cities has been at the heart of ongoing debates of change and deep reforms as well as major concerns in all countries where decentralization is giving an increasingly dynamic role to local governments. This article presents the role of local taxation in promoting sustainable urban development in Morocco through an empirical study of 163 actors and partners involved in cities in the regions of Casablanca-Settat and Rabat-Salé-Kénitra. The results show that to increase local taxation in Morocco, it is necessary to develop the capacity of city managers, encourage public-private partnerships, and improve the quality of spending.
Based on the scholar’s research on the influencing factors of local government debt, this paper argues that the local government financial resources, degree of decentralization and local government investment enthusiasm in local finance are the significant factors that influence the form of local government debt. This paper also chooses the panel data of China’s 31 provinces (cities) except Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan from 2010 to 2019, to analyze the influencing factors of local government debt scale and the relationship of local government debt scale in different regions and demonstrates the correctness of the hypothesis proposed in this paper. The analyze result shows that the local government financial resources significantly inhibit the growth of local government debt. The degree of local decentralization is an essential factor to enlarge the scale of local government debt. There is a significant positive correlation between the enthusiasm of local government investment and the scale of local government debt.
This dissertation consists of two independent essays on public economics. The first essay studies the consequences of fiscal decentralization on poverty and income inequalities. This essay describes the possible channels through which fiscal decentralization might affect poverty and income inequalities, and carries out an empirical analysis with data of a large number of countries at different stages of development, for the period 1971-2000. Fiscal decentralization is found to have significant effects on poverty and income inequalities. These findings are important because they suggest, contrary to the traditional public finance theory, that sub-national governments can play an important role in the reduction of poverty and income inequalities. The second essay studies the second best solution to the public expenditures’ problem in the presence of a proportional labor income tax. By allowing the tax base to vary with the taxpayers’ behavioral responses to taxation, we derive the “effective” budget constraint faced by the government, which describes the set of affordable combinations of public and private goods. We show that the optimal solution to the government problem corresponds to the point of tangency between the effective budget constraint and the highest attainable social indifference curve. The traditional normative prescription for public expenditures under a second-best scenario does not satisfy this condition, and therefore it provides a suboptimal solution. Finally, we use the same analytical framework in order to explain the flypaper effect, an empirical regularity that has for long challenged the conventional theory.
Environmental protection is a basic public service that the government must guarantee and is closely related to public health. An important driver of environmental pollution in China is the local government’s pursuit of a rapid economic development while ignoring environmental protection under the Chinese-style fiscal decentralization system. On the basis of the principal–agent theory between the central and local governments, this study analyzes the environmental deterioration caused by the distortion of local government behavior under fiscal decentralization. In addition, using China’s prefecture-level city data from 2014 to 2018, this study empirically estimates the impact of fiscal decentralization on environmental pollution. SO 2 emissions and PM 2.5 concentrations are used to measure the degree of environmental pollution. Results show that Chinese-style fiscal decentralization exacerbates environmental pollution and that the impact of fiscal decentralization on environmental pollution differs in regions with varying levels of economic development and cultural penetration. Moreover, fiscal decentralization does not significantly impact environmental pollution in eastern China and in those areas influenced by Confucian culture yet aggravates the environmental pollution in central and western China and in those areas that are not affected by Confucian culture. These results offer important policy implications. Clearly dividing the power and financial power between the central and local governments, establishing an environmental governance system compatible with economic incentives, and building an environmental public finance system can alleviate the impact of Chinese-style fiscal decentralization on environmental pollution.
Abstract Equilibrium of centralization and decentralization is one of the sustainable development drivers for regions in federal countries. The constitutional reform 2020 in Russia was an important political development relevant both for Russia and international discussion. Constitutional amendments made an important contribution to the center-region relations promising to understand better the needs of regions by means of State Council and introducing new actors - federal territories, initially meant for better ecological protection of certain territories. The study allows to conclude that the representation of regions in legislative power is diminished after the reform 2020, but the upgraded State Council opens new opportunities for better center-region communications. Another finding is that the new constitutional phenomenon “federal territories” is unclear and not aimed for ecological needs. It is likely to cause unjustified inequalities in redistributions of finance and revenues between the territories in Russia. Spontaneous creation of federal territories is likely to cause uncertainties in the sustainable development of regions.
The subject of this article is the set of economic and financial relations that develop in the process of inter-budgetary regulation and equalization of budgetary provision and balance of heavily subsidized budgets at the subnational level. The purpose of the study is to identify the degree of influence and effectiveness of the existing system of inter-budgetary regulation and fiscal decentralization in Russia in relation to heavily subsidized budgets at the subnational level in the context of their socio-economic, budgetary and financial condition and development. The methodological basis of the study is based on the Russian budgetary legislation, as well as domestic and foreign scientific studies devoted to the theory of fiscal decentralization (federalism), mechanisms for equalizing budgetary provision at the subnational level, approaches to assessing the degree of influence of fiscal decentralization on stimulating economic growth in regions and states. In the course of the study, the author applies a systematic approach, as well as general scientific and special methods: coefficient method, comparative, structural dynamic retrospective analysis. The analysis of the relationship and dispersion of the financial parameters of subnational budgets using the Pearson pair correlation coefficient, as well as the coefficients of variation and oscillation. The study reveals the problematic aspects of the effectiveness of the existing system of inter-budgetary regulation and the convergence of the socio-economic state of heavily subsidized regions in recent years. This result contradicts most budgetary practices and the theory of fiscal decentralization, which justifies the need for a qualitative change in the existing system of inter-budgetary regulation. The main conclusion of the study is that the existing mechanism of inter-budgetary regulation and the existing instruments for equalizing budgetary provision do not contribute to a significant change in the fiscal and socio-economic parameters of the development of heavily subsidized budgets at the subnational level. The nature of the use of the gratuitous aid received for this category of subjects of the country is reduced to short-term coverage of the gap in financing expenditure obligations but does not change the model of either the organization of budget regulation or the regional economy. Soft budget constraints create weak incentives and lead to financial and economic problems — increased dependency and subsidies.