Understanding how central and local governments share resources and responsibilities is crucial for analyzing political and economic systems.Decentralization is not a one-size-fits-all solution for enhancing local government efficiency and responsiveness.While it was once believed to lead to better governance and civic engagement, fiscal challenges (such as vertical fiscal imbalances, soft budget constraints, and the flypaper effect) can undermine fiscal discipline and efficiency, potentially causing fiscal crises at the subnational level.This thesis examines fiscal decentralization and public finance in Brazil through three empirical essays.First, I explore the financial impacts of extreme weather events on local public finances in Brazil.The findings show that droughts do not significantly influence intergovernmental transfers, causing financial strain, while floods result in increased government grants.However, this financial boost does not lead to better spending on flood mitigation, indicating a moral hazard associated with reliance on higher-level government resources.Second, I investigate the impact of territorial divisions on local governments.The analysis, using voter turnout and financial data, shows that administrative divisions initially boost electoral engagement, though this effect fades over time.Territorial fragmentation also increases reliance on vertical transfers while raising expenditures without significantly affecting fiscal balance.Third, I evaluate the Program for the Modernization of Tax Administration (PMAT), which was designed to enhance local tax collection.This analysis shows that the program had no significant impact on tax collection, highlighting the ineffectiveness of modernization efforts aimed at reducing municipal reliance on intergovernmental transfers.
Lukas Weidener, Fabio Laredo, K. I. Pavan Kumar, Karlin Compton
This study presents a systematic scoping review of delegated voting (DV) in decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs), focusing on its governance implications, implementation forms, and challenges. DV refers to a mechanism through which token holders transfer their voting rights to other participants, often called delegates, who vote on their behalf. While DV is often adopted to address low participation and mitigate the cognitive burden of direct involvement, the existing literature highlights its potential to exacerbate centralization, particularly when whales or influential networks are disproportionate. This creates tension between the intended efficiency gains of the delegation and the unintended concentration of power. Various implementation models, including off-chain platforms (e.g., Snapshot), hybrid governance architectures, and token-based delegation systems, exhibit distinct trade-offs in transparency, cost, and adaptability. Although innovations such as quadratic voting, weighted delegation constraints, and reputation-based governance show promise for improving fairness and accountability, they also face vulnerabilities, such as gaming, collusion, and high implementation complexity. To explore the diverse approaches to DV, this review organizes and synthesizes key findings from recent scholarly publications examining its implementation, risks, and governance outcomes. Synthesizing insights from 13 publications, this review identifies key governance trade-offs, implementation patterns, and risks associated with DV. It also outlines future research directions, including multi-tiered governance structures and decision-support mechanisms, to guide more inclusive and context-aware DAO governance.
This study investigates redistributive spending in China’s governance system, focusing on fiscal decentralization, interjurisdictional competition, and land finance revenue. Using multilevel modeling of data from 283 prefectural cities and 2,862 county-level jurisdictions, it finds that interjurisdictional competition prioritizes developmental spending over redistributive services. No significant relationship is observed between fiscal capacity—measured by tax revenues or intergovernmental transfers—and redistributive expenditures. However, higher land finance revenues are positively linked to increased redistributive spending. The study attributes this development-oriented strategy to the cadre promotion system, where local officials advance their careers by achieving policy goals through competition for economic investments. By integrating land finance into the analysis of redistributive spending, this research highlights its implications for equity and sustainability. It underscores the urgent need for fiscal and social policy reforms to balance developmental priorities with equitable social welfare provision.
В. В. Мартиненко, Тетяна Коляда, Maryna Skoryk, Olga Sokolova · 6 authors
The article examines the impact of the financial autonomy of local governments on the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Ukraine. The main objective of the study is to analyze the financial support of local budgets and their role in achieving key national and global development goals, such as poverty reduction, quality education, healthcare, reduction of inequality, etc. The paper also assesses how effectively decentralization contributes to increasing the financial autonomy of communities and how this affects their ability to independently allocate resources to address pressing socio-economic issues.The main results show that in the period 2015–2023, local budgets of Ukraine demonstrated a steady trend towards the growth of their own revenues, which had a positive impact on the financial autonomy of communities. The share of own revenues in total local budget revenues increased from 41% in 2015 to 68% in 2023. In addition, the expenditure coverage ratio of own revenues has also increased to over 68%, indicating that communities are increasingly able to finance their own needs. However, several problems have been identified, including an imperfect legislative framework, low institutional capacity, and a lack of specialists in local financial management.The findings of the study emphasize the importance of financial decentralization for the sustainable development of communities, especially in the context of martial law. Increased financial autonomy allows communities to respond more effectively to the challenges of the modern world, in particular by investing in local infrastructure, education, healthcare and the environment. At the same time, the authors emphasize the need to improve governance mechanisms further at the local level, as well as the importance of ensuring transparency and accountability of local governments. These measures are key to achieving the SDGs and improving the quality of life of the population.
Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs) have emerged as a revolutionary alternative to traditional governance structures, offering transparency, efficiency, and community-driven decision-making. This paper explores the core characteristics of DAOs, their potential applications in social governance, and their challenges compared to traditional government institutions. Through case studies, including CityDAO, Gitcoin Grants, UkraineDAO, VitaDAO, Proof of Humanity, and Kleros, we analyze real-world implementations of DAO governance. Despite the advantages, DAOs face legal uncertainties, governance inefficiencies, and security vulnerabilities that hinder their broader adoption. The study further examines the prospects of integrating DAOs into traditional governance frameworks and the future evolution of decentralized governance models. Addressing these challenges through technological innovation and regulatory adaptation will be crucial for DAOs to play a sustainable role in global governance.
This research investigates the impact of corruption on local own-source revenue at the provincial level in Indonesia during the fiscal decentralization era, highlighting its significance for economic policy and governance. The study contributes to a deeper understanding of how corruption influences economic outcomes in decentralized governance systems, posing the hypothesis that corruption may facilitate economic activities by expediting bureaucratic processes. Using secondary data from the Ministry of Finance and the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) of Indonesia from 2017 to 2019, the study employs descriptive statistical analysis and the Pearson correlation to examine the impact of corruption levels on local own-source revenue realization. The results reveal a strong positive and statistically significant impact, suggesting that in the short term, corruption may “grease the wheel” in regions with bureaucratic inefficiencies. These findings have important implications for policymakers and practitioners, emphasizing the need to balance efficient economic processes with robust anti-corruption measures. The study contributes to the existing body of knowledge by providing empirical evidence from the Indonesian context and identifying areas for further research to explore the broader impacts of corruption within fiscal decentralization frameworks.
This paper investigates the effect of fiscal decentralization on public finance performance for two levels of government on a panel of 33 developing economies from 2000 to 2020. Using the bias-corrected Least Square Dummy Variable estimator (LSDVC), we demonstrate that fiscal decentralization could enhance fiscal performance. The main findings are as follows: First, a larger share of decentralized expenditure is associated with a stronger central fiscal balance, but this effect diminishes with increased vertical fiscal imbalances (transfer dependency of subnational governments). The findings also show that vertical fiscal imbalances and revenue decentralization undermine fiscal positions at the central government level. At the sub-national level, we find a U-shaped relation between revenue autonomy (measured as the sub-national governments’ share of tax revenues) and sub-national budget deficits. Nonetheless, deficits of sub-national governments can be avoided through increased local accountability, for example, by having regional governments’ executive and legislative officials locally elected.
This study's main goal is to investigate how government spending affects Myanmar's economic growth, with an emphasis on fiscal decentralization and local governments' financial capabilities. Utilizing panel data collected spanning fifteen Myanmar regional states between 2000 and 2021, the study first used a fixed effects model before using quantile regression to confirm the findings' robustness. Secondary records supplied by the Budget Department and the Department of the Ministry of Planning and Finance served as the source of the data. The study's findings indicate that while labor and net exports have a negative impact on Myanmar's economic growth, financial decentralization, government spending, both decentralization and centralization, foreign direct investment, and the general populace all significantly and positively contribute to economic growth. Nonetheless, there is a statistically significant positive interaction between fiscal decentralization and government spending that results in economic growth. Government expenditure, decentralization for economic growth, and recommendations all play a major role in developing policies aimed at reducing poverty. This area has demonstrated its effectiveness in reducing poverty in Myanmar's regional states by providing aid to low-income or employed individuals who lack access to financial resources. Finally, by advancing understanding of regional supervisory skills beyond certifications, the government may use local expenditures as well as fiscal decentralization to improve development competitiveness, thus promoting regional autonomy and revolutionizing national economies.
Abstract Decentralized finance (DeFi) is gaining momentum in the world of banking, finance, and beyond. Yet, there remains a notable lack of scholarly research addressing the foundational principles and concepts underlying DeFi. In response to this gap, this study undertakes an extensive investigation into DeFi, drawing upon existing academic literature and insights from industry experts to develop a taxonomy of DeFi's attributes, operational models, and associated risks. This classification sharpens the definition of DeFi and yields critical insights for scholars and industry professionals keen on advancing DeFi's technological applications. By pinpointing essential characteristics of DeFi, mapping out its diverse business models, and highlighting the risks for DeFi users, this research contributes to the academic dialogue. It lays down a comprehensive framework for understanding DeFi, paving the way for subsequent studies and practical implementations in this dynamic area.
The Doctrine of Anchored Decentralization constitutes the first comprehensive constitutional and statutory framework capable of reconciling decentralized digital architectures with the legal, regulatory, and jurisprudential structure of the United States. Developed within the broader scholarly series <i>The Republic’s Conscience</i>, this thesis represents the second installment in that corpus—building directly upon the constitutional and structural principles articulated in the inaugural paper and extending them into the domain of digital-asset governance, administrative delimitation, and federal statutory coherence.This work advances the nation’s first universal, architecture-based commodity-versus-security classification framework designed for deployment across American constitutional, statutory, and judicial systems. By replacing rhetorical claims of decentralization with empirically verifiable and legally cognizable structural tests, the Doctrine furnishes courts, Congress, and administrative agencies with a coherent, adjudicable methodology capable of withstanding scrutiny under established Supreme Court jurisprudence, including <i>Howey</i>, <i>Reves</i>, <i>Forman</i>, <i>Marbury</i>, and the post-<i>Chevron</i> administrative landscape.The Doctrine challenges the prevailing assumption that blockchain-based ecosystems may operate as “stateless” economic systems while still participating in markets governed by constitutional law. Through sustained analysis of constitutional text, statutory construction, cryptographic system design, and post-Chevron administrative jurisprudence, the work demonstrates that decentralization cannot acquire legal legitimacy unless it remains anchored to the Chain of Consent — the constitutional requirement that all economic power be traceable to accountable authority.Drawing upon Article I, § 8 (monetary and commercial power), Article I, § 9 (appropriations and fiscal discipline), and the Due Process Clauses of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments, the Doctrine establishes that most contemporary decentralized systems operate within a constitutional vacuum: they perform value transfer, economic coordination, and pseudo-monetary behavior without satisfying the representational prerequisites of the American constitutional order. This analysis is further grounded in <i>Trustees of Dartmouth College v. Woodward</i>, <i>Gibbons v. Ogden</i>, <i>Wickard v. Filburn</i>, <i>United States v. Lopez</i>, <i>NFIB v. Sebelius</i>, and the post–<i>Loper Bright</i> landscape of statutory interpretation, revealing how modern digital governance architectures strain the boundaries of jurisdiction, accountability, and enforceability.At the systems-engineering level, the Doctrine reframes decentralization not as a monetary phenomenon but as a cryptographic lineage derived from Haber and Stornetta’s foundational timestamping architecture. This lineage demonstrates that Bitcoin’s core innovation was not the creation of new money, but the operationalization of a distributed verification engine. The work therefore distinguishes decisively between decentralization as architectural substrate and cryptocurrency as asset behavior, establishing that most digital tokens cannot qualify as commodities under the Commodity Exchange Act absent a constitutionally anchored framework for origin accountability, managerial neutrality, and market integrity.The Doctrine exposes structural defects in modern legislative approaches — including H.R. 3633 — demonstrating how contemporary statutory efforts misapply classical commodity theory, create jurisdictionally unanchored digital entities, and institutionalize anonymity architectures that undermine due process, enforcement capacity, and market legitimacy. In response, this work develops the Anchored Decentralization Test, the first system-level doctrine to allow Congress, courts, and regulators to classify digital assets based on verifiable architectural behavior rather than semantic self-description.The Doctrine further introduces the novel concept of Autonomous Commodity Primitives (ACPs) — a sovereign-grade digital infrastructure class designed not as speculative instruments but as immutable, cryptographic attestations of real-world sovereign reserve assets. ACPs are engineered to function as Treasury-grade verification rails, enabling real-time auditability, ledger-level integrity, and constitutionally compliant Asset-Backed Digital Currency (ABDC) architecture. Unlike cryptocurrencies, ACPs do not manufacture value; they attest to value that already exists within sovereign reserve systems.To harmonize privacy with constitutional accountability, the Doctrine integrates Zero-Knowledge Proofs, privacy-preserving audit layers, and non-custodial verification mechanisms, allowing digital systems to preserve Fourth Amendment-equivalent privacy while maintaining lawful traceability through institutional channels. This design restores the Chain of Consent without creating surveillance architecture.The Doctrine concludes that decentralization without accountability constitutes a structural form of constitutional evasion — an economy operating beyond representation. By restoring constitutional anchoring to distributed architectures, the Doctrine preserves innovation while reaffirming the Republic’s foundational principle: that economic power is legitimate only when traceable to those whom the Constitution recognizes as sovereign.Ultimately, The Doctrine of Anchored Decentralization provides a constitutional roadmap for the next century of digital infrastructure. It is <i>not a rejection</i> of decentralized technology, but a <i>restoration</i> of its lawful purpose: to function as a verifiable architecture of trust, anchored to the constitutional principles that have sustained the United States for more than two centuries.
This study seeks to analyze and clarify the process of budget implementation within the decentralized state services in light of the budgetary transition introduced by the Organic Law on Finance Laws (LOLF). Through this reform, Algeria has shifted from a traditional line-item budgeting system—based on inputs and financial means—to a program and performance budgeting approach that emphasizes future programs, measurable outcomes, and achieved results. The findings indicate that the previously adopted line-item budgeting framework no longer meets the requirements of modern public resource management, particularly in the context of digital transformation. This system relies on conventional procedures that fail to ensure the efficient and transparent management of state resources and capacities. Consequently, Algeria has adopted program and performance budgeting as a strategic alternative, marking the first step toward the modernization of its budgetary and accounting framework. Furthermore, the study concludes that the effective implementation of this new budgeting model and the attainment of its intended objectives require a thorough understanding of the reforms introduced under the LOLF and their practical implications for decentralized financial governance.
Local self-governments, as a form of exercising and realizing citizens' authority, have access to certain material resources that serve the purpose of performing their original and constitutionally guaranteed functions. As decentralized levels of state power, local self-governments regulate and execute legally assigned tasks in the interest of their citizens, for which they require appropriate financial resources. The methods of financing local self-governments in the Republic of Serbia are regulated by legislation and guaranteed by the Constitution. There are several methods for financing local self-governments, i.e., for securing funds for municipalities, cities, and the City of Belgrade. This paper focuses on various methods of financing local self-governments, with particular attention to non-earmarked transfers from the national budget of the Republic of Serbia. The aim of the paper is to highlight the importance of national budget financing of local self-governments, as well as the need for its reform.
The financial independence of state governments hinges on their ability to prioritize Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), which could help them to better achieve the social welfare and infrastructure needs of their citizens. The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of internally generated revenue on infrastructural development in Kwara state. By decomposing IGR into tax and non-tax revenue, we hypothesize that there is no significant long-term and short-term relationship between tax/non-tax revenue and Kwara state infrastructural development. Due to its ability to avoid stationary data problems, Auto-Regressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) was employed to analyze the annual data which were extracted from the Kwara state financial statement report from 1999–2023. This study finds that IGR and loan have a significant positive influence on infrastructural development, both in the short and long run. However, tax revenue influence can only be felt in the short-run and the previous year’s loan exhibits a negative effect on infrastructural development in the current year. Practically, these results imply that IGR is an essential source of revenue for the Kwara state government to finance capital projects, especially non-tax revenue, the effects of which tend to also be felt in the long-run. It can also be linked to the fiscal decentralization concept that supports the state government’s fiscal autonomy. The study suggests that the Kwara state government should increase its tax base and rate in a form that would not yield negative consequences on the state economy, and diversify its non-tax revenue sources to cushion unexpected economic shocks.
Government budgeting and expenditure policies play a central role in shaping national economic trajectories, influencing fiscal sustainability, and determining the quality of public services. This article provides a comprehensive review of the multifaceted effects of public budgeting, addressing key issues such as the impact of government spending on economic growth, the dynamics of budget deficits and public debt sustainability, and the roles of fiscal rules, gender budgeting, and political cycles. Additional attention is given to the effectiveness of performance-based budgeting, the challenges of balancing budgets in welfare states, and the implications of military spending, budget transparency, and participatory budgeting on governance and public trust. Further discussions analyze how fiscal decentralization, off-budget expenditures, and differing budgeting frameworks between federal and unitary states affect long-term economic stability and public finance. By synthesizing empirical and theoretical insights, this article offers policy recommendations to enhance fiscal discipline, encourage citizen engagement, and promote sustainable economic growth.
The financing system of local government is a fundamental component of a stable and efficient governance framework, playing a crucial role in implementing the principle of fiscal decentralization. This system guarantees that local authorities receive sufficient financial resources, enabling them to carry out their legally assigned duties in an effective and efficient manner. A stable and predictable financing system not only contributes to the autonomy of local authorities but also enhances the quality of public services provided to citizens at the local level. Property tax stands out as a key revenue stream for local governments, having demonstrated its effectiveness as one of the most appropriate taxation methods at this administrative level. Its primary function is to secure a stable income for local budgets, facilitating the funding of various infrastructure, social, and development projects of importance to local communities. In the Republic of Serbia, the process of fiscal decentralization was significantly improved with the adoption of the Law on Local Government Financing in 2006, which transferred property taxation to the exclusive jurisdiction of local governments. This reform encompassed key aspects of local tax policy, including determining the tax base, collection, and control of property tax, as well as granting local governments the authority to set tax rates within the limits prescribed by law. A further step toward increasing the efficiency of this system was achieved through amendments to the Property Tax Law in 2010, aimed at eliminating certain administrative obstacles and inefficiencies within the tax system. These amendments contributed to improved tax collection, strengthened the capacities of local tax administrations, and enhanced transparency in managing local revenues. Overall, the continuous improvement of the local government financing system through tax policy reforms represents a crucial prerequisite for strengthening the fiscal autonomy of local authorities, improving public services, and achieving the principles of sustainable local development.
Indonesia’s fiscal decentralization framework has evolved substantially since the 1998 Reformasi era; however, its capacity to ensure equitable and sustainable development remains debatable. This study analyzes the intricate dynamics of fiscal decentralization within Indonesia’s development financi