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The onset of the independence process in Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries during the 1990s was marked by tremendous optimism and a declared wish for stronger fiscal decentralisation and the transfer of powers, responsibilities and resources to the units of local and regional self-government that were supposed to be closest to citizens in resolving their daily problems. However, this has not happened in these countries, at least not according to the basic financial decentralisation indicators, and this is the main thesis of this work. Despite numerous adjustments made in the local self-government organisation in the observed countries, an optimum level of local and regional self-government organisation has still not been achieved. The units of local and regional self-government are still heavily dependent on, or rather restricted by, the strong central governments, which reduces their autonomy and their influence on the local social and economic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article looks at the White Paper for local government, "Strong Local Leadership - Quality Public Services," and its implications in central-local relations in Great Britain. The new White Paper, which was published on December 10, 20001, is said to break a long-term process of centralization that influenced the New Labour's reform programme including the reduction in central control and recognition that local government is a part of a solution. The White Paper also reflects the government's intention of establishing relationships with individual authorities and a renewed role for elected local government.

Simultaneously achieving economic development and environmental protection is a shared global challenge. While the positive effect of environmental regulations on protecting the environment has been widely recognized, the attention paid to low-carbon governance and corporate green transformation remains insufficient. Based on the two-stage least square regression model (2SLS) of instrumental variables, this paper utilizes panel data from China to identify the influence mechanism of government low-carbon governance on enterprise green development. It explores the effect of low-carbon governance on enterprise green development from the perspective of fiscal decentralization. The findings show that (1) Low-carbon governance significantly promotes corporate green development, primarily through improving industrial structure and technological innovation; (2) Low-carbon governance notably promotes the green development of private enterprises but has little effect on state-owned enterprises. There are also geographical differences, and the results are better in Eastern China than in the Central and Western parts of China; (3) Fiscal decentralization at both central and local levels inhibits the effect of low-carbon governance on driving corporate green development by causing a mismatch of human resources. Therefore, to promote corporate green development, low-carbon governance must prioritize green development, actively guide industrial structural upgrading and enterprise technological innovation, implement differentiated low-carbon governance measures tailored to different ownership enterprises, and optimize the assessment indicators for fiscal decentralization. This paper helps deepen the understanding of the relationship between government low-carbon governance and enterprise green development in developing countries. It can be used as a reference for government departments to formulate relevant policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Croatian & Comparative Public Administration is the property of Institut za Javnu Upravu and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This Special Issue publishes high quality papers on contemporary issues in business and economics in Vietnam and other Asian emerging markets. These papers were accepted and presented at the 2019 Vietnam's Business and Economics Research Conference (VBER2019) organized byHo ChiMinh City Open University, Vietnam in July 2019. Emerging issues in business and economics from Vietnam and other emerging markets in the Asian region have been addressed from various angles, from economics, finance, and statistics to management science. Five out of the 14 studies in this book were conducted to investigate various issues in relation to the Asian region such as the exchange rate regime inAsia, financial inclusion, and financial development and income inequality in Asian emerging markets. Seven studies were conducted in response to emerging business and economic issues in Vietnam such as fiscal decentralization, urbanization, foreign direct investment, and corporate financial distress. Other papers even considered various relevant aspects from the United States and Europe to the Asian region including double taxation treaties and agricultural shocks to the oil price. The findings from these papers are useful for practitioners, policymakers, and academics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Devolution to Scotland and Wales was a central pillar of the legislative agenda of the Labour government elected in 1997, yet despite the constitutional significance of this programme it was undertaken without particular enthusiasm by the then prime minister, Tony Blair. Nowhere was this blend of significant change, yet pervasive lack of passion (or interest) more apparent than devolution to Wales. Drawing upon recently released archival documents, this article will explore the New Labour government's approach to devolution in Wales. These papers provide fresh evidence of the second order nature, and treatment, of Welsh devolution compared to the attention provided to Scottish devolution, as well as of the narcissism of small details which pervaded Whitehall's discussions of Welsh devolution (with considerable energy, for example, dedicated to questions about the titles which leading figures in the Assembly would be given). These papers also bear testament to the struggles which Ron Davies, the then secretary of state for Wales, faced in securing even a minor scheme of devolution and the tensions he experienced with the centre of government. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The process of economic development in China cannot be separated from the 'shadow' of government target intervention. Under the Chinese system of fiscal decentralization, constraints created by local government fiscal revenue targets (CCFRTs) will have a series of influence on development economically and socially. Based on the fiscal revenue target data revealed in the government work reports of 281 prefecture-level cities in China from 2006 to 2019, this paper explores the influence of CCFRTs on green technology innovation (GTI). The findings are as follows: first, CCFRTs significantly inhibits GTI. Second, Spatial Durbin model analysis shows that CCFRTs has significant negative spatial spillover effect on GTI. Third, CCFRTs can affect GTI through the optimization of industrial structure, the level of human capital, and the degree of opening-up, technological progress and economic growth. Fourth, CCFRTs has an obvious threshold effect on GTI. Finally, the influence of CCFRTs on GTI has regional heterogeneity in central, eastern and western China. In the western and central regions, CCFRTs significantly restrains GTI significantly, while in the eastern region, CCFRTs significantly promotes GTI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

New Labour's third White Paper promised the revitalization of local government after ten years of control freakery. It does not, however, live up to the promise of a 'new localism'. The tenor of the paper is moralising and prescriptive, claims to a new approach belied by the government's negative response to Lyons. Proposals for reform are ambiguous, offering no guarantees against back-door centralisation. Such cause as there may be for optimism largely depends on the capacity of localities to take the initiative. A fundamental debate about the role of local government, local democracy and the relationship between centre and locality is therefore still needed. Given the preponderance of path dependencies, strategic dilemmas and structural constraints upon the centre, the demand for local democracy will have to be initiated, voiced and organised by local citizens and councillors themselves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discusses the issues raised by the White Paper concerning English regions. Commitment to English regionalization; Expected strengthening and democratization of regional institutions; Direct election of regional assemblies; Modification of existing arrangements; Procedural difficulties.

Globally, over the last few decades, countries have become increasingly decentralized but only recently did they recognize the need for incorporating a gender dimension into such policies. As a result, the relationship between fiscal decentralization, which implies delegating fiscal powers from national to subnational governments, and gender equality remains elusive. In this paper, I study the impact of expenditure decentralization on gender equality using panel data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development -- OECD countries between 2006 and 2021. I find that decentralization of expenditure increases gender equality in these countries. My results also demonstrate that unionization, the extent of a country's integration with the rest of the world, urbanization, population growth, and the state of democracy also matter for gender equality. This suggests that these factors should also accompany expenditure decentralization if the governments of these countries want to further promote gender equality through such public policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The optimization and upgrading of industrial structure is the driving force to build a new development pattern and improve the quality and efficiency of economic development. China's "pressure-type" fiscal incentives (PTFIs) are an important perspective from which the law of industrial structure change can be analyzed. Based on the dynamic panel data of 285 cities in China and the behavioral characteristics of local governments, this paper explores the effects of PTFIs on industrial restructuring using the GMM estimation method. It is found that PTFIs are conducive to improving the "quantity" of industrial structure upgrading (ISU), but not conducive to improving the "quality" of ISU or the rationalization of industrial structure (RIS). Mechanism identification reveals that, with PTFIs, local governments influence industrial restructuring mainly by "expanding financial resources with land" (EFRWL) and increasing the intensity of tax collection and management (ITCM). Further discussion reveals that a higher degree of fiscal decentralization and environmental regulation can effectively alleviate the negative impact of PTFIs on industrial restructuring. Accordingly, this paper puts forward some policy recommendations to promote the balanced development of industrial structure, such as improving the institutional conditions and standardizing the behavior of local governments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discusses the devolution proposals of the Labour Government of Harold Wilson for the British system of governance. Publication of the White Paper containing the devolution proposals; Delegation of governmental and administrative functions to Scotland and Wales; Significance of the devolution proposals.

This paper presents a model of opportunistic behaviour in decentralized economic exchange and considers the impact of inadequate institutional framework of formal contract enforcement on economic performance. It is shown that (i) when the number of cheating traders is sufficiently large, inadequate institutions result in a loss of decentralized trading contracts, (ii) an adequate institutional framework, while being necessary for the attainment of a Pareto optimal outcome, may not be sufficient if traders perceive it as inadequate; and (iii) sufficiently good formal enforcement provisions help deter contractual breach in environments with corrupt and powerful enforcers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Humanities Journal of University of Zakho (HJUOZ) is the property of Humanities Journal of University of Zakho and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Historia y Comunicación Social is the property of Universidad Complutense de Madrid and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Decentralization and efforts for inclusivity in Pakistan's public sector from 1973 led to the recruitment and advancement of women as officers of the newly constituted Central Superior Services (CSS) of the federal government of Pakistan. Quotas for women made government more diverse and representative, and educational and length of service benchmarks for recruitment and promotion made advancement more attainable and transparent. The increasing participation of these new officers of state, outlined in this paper, can be seen as an outcome of the 1973 public sector reforms, but government policy alone is not sufficient to account for women's entry into public life and policy making where they had been excluded from it over the previous century of the development of the bureaucracy. This paper presents professional life history narratives of 23 women officers of the CSS recorded in an oral history project in Lahore and describes the women who participated in this state project of decentralization and gender inclusivity and their motivations, complementing an historiography of administrative reform. I argue for attention to the role of families and academic institutions in enabling women in finding pathways into the CSS and advancing and succeeding in their roles, mediating between the state and Pakistani society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines a white paper on government devolution in England, published on March 9, 2002. Proposals to strengthen regional institutions; Improvement of regional economic competitiveness; Accountability of local governments.

Copyright of Environmental & Social Management Journal / Revista de Gestão Social e Ambiental is the property of Environmental & Social Management Journal and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper examines whether an increase in political decentralization, which is a global trend, affects income inequality. It argues that the effect of decentralization on equality lies with the quality of governance, that is, how well the traditions and institutions of an authority in a country are exercised. Using an instrumental variables (IV)/two-stage least squares (2SLS) method, this paper shows that an increase in decentralization reduces inequality. However, this reduction is stronger for countries with a relatively low quality of governance, possibly because private investments in these countries reduce income inequality. A policy implication is that institutional-specific decentralization strategies can reduce inequalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using panel data from 275 prefecture-level cities in China spanning from 2003 to 2019, this paper employs the multiperiod difference-in-differences method to empirically analyze the policy effect of land negotiation policy on local governments' hidden debt. The paper also investigates the influence mechanisms of land finance, budget soft constraints, fiscal decentralization and government competition. The empirical results reveal that: (1) Land negotiations promote the expansion of local governments' hidden debt, which is counterproductive to the sustainable development of government finances. (2) The impact of land negotiation policy on local government's hidden debt is transmitted via its effects on land finance. (3) The greater the degree of soft budget constraint and the degree of government competition, the less the expansion effect of land negotiations on the hidden debt of the government. The greater the degree of fiscal decentralization, the greater the expansion effect of land negotiations on the government's hidden debt. (4) Land negotiation promotes the expansion of hidden debt in eastern China and inhibits it in central China, with no significant effect observed in western China. (5) Cities with larger urban scale and higher economic development levels experience stronger effects from land negotiation policies. Therefore, it is imperative to deepen the land negotiation system further, develop policy indicators and feedback mechanisms tailored to local conditions, and introduce a multiparty supervision system to enhance implementation of the land negotiation system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since 2001, Indonesia established fiscal decentralization to address the growing economic and social inequalities and promote regional economic development. Two decades later, the spatial effects of decentralization in reducing regional inequality in Indonesia are still unclear. Various studies indicate that geographical proximity, spatial linkages, and spillovers have major impacts on economic growth. This paper offers an empirical analysis of the long-run effects of fiscal decentralization and its spatial impacts on regional growth and convergence in Indonesia. The study uses district-level panel data over a 10-year period (2003–2013). We apply regional distribution indices, spatial cluster analysis, convergence analysis, and spatial econometrics. The convergence analysis uses GMM and spatial models. Our findings highlight the persistence of regional divergence and a widening development gap between regions, especially at the provincial level. The results show regional polarization and backwash effects with the strengthening of core regions and weakening of hinterlands. The paper shows that equalization funds are ineffective in reducing vertical and horizontal inequalities. Their distributional effect is unclear except for the revenue sharing fund which boosts economic growth. Furthermore, the paper demonstrates the importance of urban agglomerations, spatial proximity, labor size, and a skilled labor base in increasing regional economic performance. There are two main policy implications of this study. First, place-based economic policies are needed that emphasize endogenous local development and highlight the mobilization of resources (labor and capital). Second, national policies must support regional development based on a thorough understanding of the caveats of liberalization policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The key objectives of this research study are to construct a valid and reliable household-based Human Development Index (HDI) and to estimate human development disparities in 36 districts of Punjab (Pakistan) by analysing Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey microdata. The household-level HDI, a composite index, is constructed by applying the arithmetic mean of the household-level health, asset, and education indices. The district of Lahore, among all the 36 districts of Punjab, has the highest HDI score of 0.743, followed by districts Rawalpindi, Jhelum, and Gujrat. Four neighbouring districts from South Punjab: Rajanpur, Dera Ghazi Khan, Muzzaffar Gar, and Rahim Yaar Khan, have the lowest HDI scores of 0.492, 0508, 0.531, and 0.566, respectively. This paper has used the Palma-ratio and Gini-coefficient to estimate human development disparities in Punjab. The highest human development disparities are observed in the Rajanpur district with a Gini-coefficient of 0.38 and a Palma Ratio of 1.55. Both the Gini and Palma Ratio methods produce similar district rank orderings of inequality. This research recommends that additional efforts be made to uplift the districts with the lowest human development in Southern Punjab through local government restructuring and devolution of relevant powers, including the formation of a separate province. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Responding to the failures of the good governance agenda in the post‐Cold War period, development scholars and policy researchers have placed increasing emphasis on approaches that can enable practitioners to support local change processes in politically savvy ways. Sometimes referred to as the 'second orthodoxy' in donor practice, these models aim to take the politics of aid‐receiving contexts seriously and work 'with the grain' of the institutional landscapes in which they are applied. This paper examines how these principles were put into practice within the ODI's Budget Strengthening Initiative (BSI) in Uganda. The paper shows how an 'embedded' form of technical assistance enabled the BSI to act micro‐politically, brokering the adoption of fiscal decentralisation reforms within the Uganda government. However, in the face of a broader political landscape of regime survival, the BSI's position within Uganda's financial technocracy also constrained its capacity to support these reforms. In this context of declining autonomy and shifting political constraints, the BSI worked 'with the grain' to reshape the reforms to align with pre‐existing political logics that hindered pro‐poor outcomes. Going forward, the paper suggests that further attention might be applied to understanding and addressing the fundamental tensions and trade‐offs involved in working 'with the grain' of challenging political contexts like Uganda. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Whether fiscal decentralization will lead to agricultural land "non-grainization" has been widely debated in academic circles. How to improve the efficiency of financial support to agriculture and optimize the grain planting structure by clarifying the relationship between central and local powers and responsibilities is the key to ensuring food security. Based on the panel data of 170 cities in China from 2004 to 2017, this paper uses system moment estimation and a threshold effect model to explore the impact of fiscal decentralization on grain planting structure. The results show that (1) fiscal decentralization has a significant negative effect on the share of food crop cultivation in the major grain-producing areas. (2) Taking the wage level, financial support for agriculture, and land finance as the threshold variables, the test finds that there is a threshold effect of fiscal decentralization on the proportion of food crop cultivation, in which land finance dependence and rises in the wage level are conducive to mitigating the negative effect of fiscal decentralization on the proportion of food crop cultivation. (3) For the three major types of food crop varieties, the negative impact of fiscal decentralization on the share of wheat and corn crop cultivation is subject to the threshold effect of wage level, financial support for agriculture, and land finance, while the impact of fiscal decentralization on the share of rice crop cultivation is not significant. The results of the study have an important guiding role for the government to deepen the reform of the tax-sharing system, improve the long-term mechanism of stable growth of financial support for grain, and optimize the layout of the grain industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to examine whether the status of fiscal decentralization generates efficiency in local spending behavior and leads to local fiscal performance and local economic growth, revealing not only the status of Romania from the point of vertical fiscal imbalance but also the fiscal implication of spending decentralization and local government effectiveness. The methodological background includes qualitative sequential methodology, involving empiric analysis that provides coherence and viability for our study, but also quantitative methods, including Ordinary Least Squares regression (OLS). The empirical results show that fiscal decentralization determines more responsible and efficient local spending, enhancing local performance and contributing to economic growth. Furthermore, the analysis provides evidence on the importance of local fiscal consolidation and gives an overview in terms of spending responsibilities between the central government and local government. The paper contributes to the literature that studies fiscal imbalance, as well as the fiscal implications of decentralized spending and the effectiveness of local governments in driving economic growth. It also contributes to the literature that studies the relationship between fiscal decentralization and local economic growth, as well as the effectiveness of government reforms and strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At present, China's economy is transforming from rapid development to high-quality development, and environmental pollution stands out as an urgent need to be addressed. Fiscal decentralization is considered to confer economic incentives on local governments to obtain the right to gain and spend in economic growth. However, at the same time, political incentives are given to local officials under the promotion mechanism based on gross domestic product (GDP) assessment, and these two incentives become key to the environmental performance of the jurisdictions. Therefore, this paper incorporates fiscal decentralization, promotion incentives, and environmental pollution into a unified framework and theoretically analyzes the effects of fiscal decentralization, promotion incentives on environmental pollution, and the intrinsic mechanism of action. Using panel data of 30 Chinese provinces from 2002 to 2018, we examine that fiscal decentralization significantly promotes environmental pollution, and this performance is more obvious in economically underdeveloped regions. In terms of its mechanism of action, fiscal decentralization affects environmental pollution by increasing the demand for foreign direct investment, inhibiting technological progress, and enhancing environmental regulation, while foreign direct investment and technological progress significantly inhibit environmental pollution, but environmental regulation does not present a role of pollution control. Further study finds that under the consideration of "GDP-based promotion incentives," local officials will generate "competition for investment," relax environmental standards for FDI, and generate "competition for growth", which will inhibit technological progress and incomplete enforcement of environmental regulations, thus exacerbating local environmental pollution. On this basis, this paper proposes to further deepen the fiscal system reform, promote the optimization of local government competition system, and effectively restrain the vicious competition behavior of local officials under the fiscal decentralization system, so as to provide relevant insights for realizing China's economic transformation as well as high-quality economic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It has been a subject of debate among scholars and political analysis on whether election governance is a prerequisite for ensuring successful decentralization. This is not unconnected with the general notion that the extent of decentralization in any political set-up is solely dependent on the desire of higher levels of government to share its powers with the lower tiers of government. Therefore, this paper examines the roles of electoral governance in the enhancement of successful decentralization. The main thrust of the paper is to determine the implications of electoral process on decentralization. Descriptive survey was adopted for the purpose of data collection. Purposive sampling was used to sample 280 respondents out of a total population of 1,282. Out of a total of 280 questionnaire administered to the staff of Independent Electoral Commission (INEC), Abuja. 264 were completed and retuned accordingly. The statistical tool used of testing the validity of hypotheses is chi-square analysis. The research findings revealed that election governance has great role to play in the enchantment of successful decentralization. This is not unconnected with the fact that pluralistic politics during elections and representative government bequeath more influence to citizens, or their representatives in the formulation and implementation of policies. Also, it was discovered that the decisions made with greater participation through favourble electoral governance will be better informed and more relevant to diverse interests in society than those made only by national political authorities. Above all, the selection of representatives from local electoral jurisdictions allows citizens to know better their political representatives and allows elected officials to know better the needs and desires of their constituents. The study therefore recommended that electoral governance should give room for popular participation in grassroots democracy thorough political education and sensitization in order to guarantee successful decentralization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research paper investigates the Pakistan's local government structure in historical context. To acquire a deeper understanding of the possible reason for the decentralization, the paper examines its history within a historical perspective and is to take a look at the local government system in terms of their involvement and contribution to the country and an overview of decentralization reforms from the preindependence era to the 1985-1999 local government revolution. This research is descriptive and analytical in nature. Examining how the local government system has changed over time is fascinating because an important development was made to create this experiment. The majority of research on decentralization in developing countries shows that the reasons behind the failure of power delegation are either systemic shortcomings in local government, ineffective entrenched party capture of local authority, or a combination of these factors. The failure to strengthen the grassroots democratic system and the inadequate local administration conveyance were the drawbacks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The impact of Chinese-style fiscal decentralization on regional energy intensity has long been disputed by the supporters of "federal environmentalism" and those who hold "race to the bottom" views. At the same time, with the transformation of China's development mode, the Chinese government is paying increasing attention to the protection of ecological civilization and the realization of sustainable development, and the government's attention to the ecological environment is becoming an important factor affecting regional energy intensity. Therefore, this paper takes the fiscal decentralization and ecological attention of local governments in China as the research object and analyzes their impact mechanism on regional energy intensity. Firstly, the entropy weight method was used to measure the comprehensive score of fiscal decentralization of Chinese local governments, and the text analysis method was used to obtain the ecological attention index of Chinese provincial local governments, which was sorted into panel data of 30 provinces (municipalities and autonomous regions) in mainland China from 2007 to 2019. The spatial econometric model and panel threshold model are structured as the means for analyzing the impact that fiscal decentralization and the ecological attention of local governments have, respectively, on regional energy intensity targets. We obtained the following conclusions: Chinese fiscal decentralization can significantly improve the regional energy intensity, and the fiscal decentralization of a region can significantly reduce the energy intensity in nearby regions; the enhancement of ecological attention of local governments will significantly inhibit regional energy intensity, and also has a significant inhibitory effect on the energy intensity of neighboring regions. As the threshold variable—which is the ecological attention of local governments—increases and reaches a certain level, fiscal decentralization will significantly and reversely inhibit regional energy intensity, indicating that the ecological attention of local governments can moderate the distortion of fiscal decentralization with regards to regional energy efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista de Estudios de la Administración Local y Autonómica is the property of Instituto Nacional de Administracion Publica and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The article discusses the papers regarding the constitutional crisis after the collapse of the Meech Lake Accord in Canada. The authors who were strong supporters of the Accord look into its substance, process and the intergovernmental policy that surrounds its negotiation to be able to come up with the lessons from its failure. The authors cite the option of asymmetrical federalism that calls for the decentralized special status of Quebec. One of the author argues that the Accord failed due to the attempt of the elitist politicians to amend the constitution illegitimately without consultation.

This review of country-level performance assessment in donor agencies is primarily based upon the experiences documented by bilateral donors to developing countries. The review suggests that four emerging themes can be identified in the literature on country-level performance review: ownership, decentralisation and leadership, accountability and learning and complexity. The review considers the implementation of ‘results-based’ approaches used by a number of international agencies and examines their relationship with ‘evidence-based’ approaches. A key challenge, in the development of performance assessment, is bringing in a stronger evidence-based approach into the planning and evaluation of donor country-level programmes. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the impact of digital inclusive financial development on local government expenditure incentives at the income level. It does so by constructing a multi-level government Dynamic Stochastic General Equilibrium (DSGE) model that incorporates the financial sector. By employing empirical methods that involve uncertainty shocks and counterfactual simulations, the research yields several key findings. Firstly, the development of digital inclusive finance contributes to breaking down the urban-rural dual financial structure, thus facilitating balanced economic development within regions. Secondly, it reduces the proportion of financially excluded areas, accelerates fiscal decentralization, leading to an increase in local government fiscal revenue, and, consequently, an expansion of local fiscal expenditures. Thirdly, at a certain stage of digital inclusive finance development, it tends to crowd out residents' investment and consumption. Therefore, the decentralization of fiscal power and the expansion of local government expenditure at this stage may paradoxically inhibit regional economic growth. The study's conclusions validate the significant impact of digital inclusive finance on local government incentives at the income level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite significant growth in fiscal expenditure, the overall level of public services in China remains inadequate. One approach to improving government public service efficiency from the perspective of management psychology is to strengthen government competition. However, only a few studies have explored the improvement of public service efficiency through government competition, with even fewer addressing the phenomena of market segmentation and spatial effects that accompany the process of government competition. This paper aims to fill this research gap by examining the effects of government competition and market segmentation on public service efficiency, as well as their spatial disparities. We initially employs the DEA method to assess the efficiency of public services based on inputs and outputs, and examines its spatial variations. Subsequently, a semi-parametric spatial lag panel model is utilized to validate the effects of market segmentation and government competition on public service efficiency. Our findings indicate that inter-provincial market segmentation leads to a decline in public service efficiency. Moreover, the influence of horizontal competition between local governments on public service efficiency varies depending on the degree of positive and negative effects in their competition dynamics. The impact of vertical competition between central and local governments on public service efficiency is influenced by the degree of fiscal decentralization. When the level of fiscal decentralization is below 0.808, vertical competition between central and local governments has a promoting effect on public service efficiency. However, when the degree of fiscal decentralization exceeds 0.08, this promoting effect weakens and gradually transforms into a negative influence. The insights and evidence provided by this study offer valuable guidance for for effectively reshaping the fiscal relations between the central and local governments in China and improving public service efficiency in the context of a new round of fiscal and tax system reforms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The future success of a Labour Government is likely to hinge on how far people and communities that perceive themselves to have lost out from industrial change in recent decades can observe tangible improvements in their material circumstances, as well as the physical fabric of the places in which they live. This article provides Labour with an agenda to restore 'pride in place' while tackling regional economic inequality. It argues that substantive devolution to sub-regional government would be among the most consequential acts of a Starmer-led administration. The paper focuses on how Labour can make a success of devolution in England. The party must articulate a consistent rationale for further English devolution, while developing a cogent devolution policy that draws on the approach deployed by the last Labour Government and builds on the legacy inherited from the previous administration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Studia Iuridica Lublinensia is the property of Maria Curie-Sklodowska University in Lublin and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper studies how fiscal decentralisation affects labour supply. It explores a reform that increased the fiscal autonomy of Italian municipalities by replacing government transfers with revenues from a local property tax. Our identification leverages cross-municipal variation in the degree of decentralisation that stems from differences in the average age of buildings caused by World War II bombings. Decentralisation expanded municipal services, such as nursery schools, especially in areas with greater political competition. The paper then investigates how the reform affected labour markets. Decentralisation increased female labour supply—probably through expanded availability of nursery schools—thereby reducing the gender gap in employment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper provides a theoretical framework for categorizing organized crime groups based on what they do – whether they produce, trade or govern – as well as their aims. This paper then tests whether the internal structure of a heroin distribution organization in New York City, a Sicilian mafia group and the Provisional Irish Republican Army differ. Applying Exponential Random Graph Models (ERGMs) methods to network data, we find the organizational structure of trade-type organized crime differs markedly from governance-type, as well as between financially-motivated and politically-motivated groups. Trade-type organized crime and financially-motivated groups display a high level of centralization, an even distribution of clustering values, short paths and low homophily. Governance-type organized crime and politically-motivated groups display the opposite features. We conclude that the core activity and aim of the group are crucial in understanding the organizational structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper offers a comprehensive overview of modern regionalism in France, with a particular focus on the territorial administrative organization and its far-reaching effects on cultural, political, and economic regionalism. Drawing from the principles underlying the French regionalization process, we emphasize the decentralization initiatives aimed at empowering local authorities and nurturing regional identities. Our analysis traces the evolution of regionalism in France, from a historical era of centralization to the current state of territorial administrative organization, highlighting the multi-dimensional nature of regional development. Furthermore, we explore the cultural, political, and economic facets of regionalism, illuminating their interconnectedness and their impact on regional dynamics. By delving into the French regionalization model and its outcomes, this paper aims to enhance our comprehension of modern regionalism in France and its broader implications for governance and socio-economic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The end of the Suharto era in 1998 brought two prominent reforms to Indonesia: (i) a raft of anti-corruption policies and (ii) decentralisation of administrative and fiscal functions. District-level reported corruption swelled in following years and the role of decentralisation came under scrutiny, but data limitations prevented direct examination of a contributing role. This paper combines perceived and reported (observed) regional measures of corruption to examine spatiotemporal corruption patterns across Indonesian districts post-decentralisation. That period saw both improvements in perceptions measures and increases in the reported number of convicted perpetrators and in the reported value of financial loss. Cross-sectional comparisons show corruption perceptions (i) were milder in districts with less reported incidents of corruption, and (ii) responded positively to efforts by the judiciary and law enforcement agencies to curb corruption. These findings suggest that increased capability and resources allocated to combatting corruption play a large role in determining corruption perceptions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After the Asian currency crisis in 1998, Vietnam's economy entered a new period of economic growth. Using a unique dataset of 5,267 foreign firms with investments in Vietnam during the period 2005 to 2016, Quan and Nguyen investigate the entry mode choice of foreign investors when entering Vietnam. Nguyen and Vu analyze the degree of asset investment diversification that affects firm performance through the mediating effect of business diversification. [Extracted from the article]

Fiscal decentralization brings certain economic benefits, but also meets certain inconveniences. If the process of decentralization is realized in the mode, that the decentralization of expenditure and decentralization of revenue are divided, the success of its implementation is endangered. Excessive expenditure decentralization without adequate decentralization of revenues creates a gap, which is under the soft-budget constraints conditions completed by intergovernmental transfers. Intergovernmental transfers present a move of public financial resources from central level of government to local levels of government creating vertical fiscal imbalance. The theory is not clear about the eligibility of soft-budget constraints and vertical fiscal imbalance. The economic reality supports their existence and considers them as an integral part of local resources. In this paper vertical fiscal imbalances in the EU countries are analyzed. Using the panel regression with time effects for a sample of new and old EU member states, determinants of vertical fiscal imbalance are identified. Significant negative effect of public deficit and revenue decentralization is observed in all two samples. The impact of time effects differs according to the sample. This paper is published within the project VEGA no.1/0559/16. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China, as the world's largest energy consumer, has made the green economy a central component of its economic development strategy. However, how to effectively play the government's crucial role in promoting the development of the green economy has become the focus of research by a significant number of economic experts. This paper uses the Super-SBM model to measure the green economy development index by introducing carbon dioxide emissions and industrial "three wastes" emissions and analyzes the relationship between fiscal decentralization, green technology innovation, and the green economy from the vantage point of local government behavior. It is discovered that fiscal decentralization significantly inhibits the development of the green economy, and local green technology innovation activities in the last period will amplify this negative impact. The above findings pass the robustness test. After introducing comparative analysis of economic growth indicators that are measured by the stochastic frontier analysis (SFA), the results show that only in the eastern region does fiscal decentralization both drive economic growth and do not inhibit green economy development by local government officials' political promotion motives and self-interested preferred expenditures, but overall economic promotion and green economy inhibition caused by fiscal decentralization exist simultaneously in the Yangtze River Economic Belt region, and significant heterogeneity differences exist in the rest of the regions. The findings suggest that regulating local government fiscal behavior and improving fiscal transparency are very important to promote the development of China's green economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Is fiscal federalism associated with economic policy responses and stimulus measures adopted by national and sub-national governments to mitigate the adverse economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic? In this paper, we provide empirical evidence that it indeed is. Our results indicate that even after controlling for various relevant factors, countries with fiscally federal (decentralised) governments have adopted larger fiscal and macro-financial policy packages (as a percent of GDP). However, there are no significant differences in monetary-policy responses between centralised and decentralised governments. We also show that these results are robust to using different federalism measures, including different sets of control variables and different econometric specifications that include an instrumental variable estimation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The unification of South Korea and North Korea is a plausible idea yet it requires a comprehensive preparation in advance. As a method to achieve fiscal efficiency in public services, decentralization theory1is consistently applied. However, the current literature and political reality argue that decentralization does not always hold its efficiency. Therefore, this paper focuses on finding an ideal education finance model for post-unification Korea by studying how one country's academic/economic status is related to their education finance model. This paper conducts the OLS linear regression analysis with 40 OECD and its partner countries' information on GDP per capita, Gini Index, PISA mathematics score, and the form of education finance system. The main findings of this research are that the political and fiscal decentralization are different ideas, and fiscal decentralization does not always hold its efficiency as the decentralization theory states. Among the types of decentralization, the optimal education finance model for academic and economic improvement is deconcentration - which is a combination of fiscal centralization and political, or administrative, decentralization to empower regional autonomy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The process of decentralization in North Macedonia began in July 2005, after the adaption of the constitutional amendments made which triggered the process of the decentralization in the Republic of Macedonia. Having in mind that the decentralization implied structural changes in the Macedonian political system and in relations between the central and the local government, the implementation of the process of the decentralization was designed with a phased approach in order to accommodate the local government institutions with the new competencies. Among others the process of decentralization had an objective to bring the local authorities closer to the citizens through provision of quality local services. In addition it aims to provide an opportunity for broader participation and representation of the citizens in their communities. This paper attempts to answer three main questions related to quality public services: • The process of decentralization has helped to improve the quality of public services? • What areas of public services under municipal jurisdiction are satisfied with it? • How much would you like to be informed about community activities? In this paper we are going to analyze the findings from the field research about the quality of public service that provide the municipality in the R. North Macedonia. The paper focuses on the satisfaction on the public services and provides recommendations for future improvement of the decentralized public services in the Republic of North Macedonia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context and background Many are the suggestions on how to develop a new land information system or evaluate how successful is the existing system. However, guidance about how the created system can be kept up to date is shallowly mentioned in the literature while it is the key feature for its sustainability. Goal and Objective This paper is part of an extensive research done regarding the updating of land information systems that were created using unconventional approaches during systematic land registration. For these systems, huge database are created in a short period during the initial registration. To minimize uncertainties that may be in the updating phase, a framework was developed and presented in this paper. Methodology A refined traditional approach for system design was used in the development of this framework. The design requirements were extracted from literature and they were refined basing on the responses of land experts from nine case-study countries. These refined requirements were used to develop the updating framework and its validation was done by experts in the use of unconventional approaches in land registration. Results The developed framework explains what to consider in the updating to ensure the registration of changes in land records. The framework is composed of 'dimension' which is a group of parameters related to each other; 'parameters' of land information system that are worthy to consider in the updating and the 'requirements' describing how to design these parameters to ensure that changes in land records are being registered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past decades, Europe has seen increasing interest in and pressure to coordinate social policy. Studies on the coordination of social policies have found that institutional settings affect coordination patterns when comparing different welfare state ideal-types. Adding to this body of research, this paper compares two countries with diverging authority to regulate social policy areas; Sweden representing a unitary decentralized state and the UK representing a regionalized state. With labour market programs for youth serving as a case, the purpose of this paper is to compare the development of inter- and intra-policy coordination over a period of 10 years, analysing the impact of regulatory authority. Policy documents which set the regulatory frame of the programs are analysed from the perspectives of instruments, and territorial levels of regulatory authority and how these connect to coordination patterns. The results show that levels of discretion and processes of decentralization and fragmentation of regulatory authority impact on coordination patterns, where inter- and intra-coordination develops under different circumstances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this paper is to clarify the potential joint determination between fiscal decentralization, regional inequality, and the provision of local public goods in Indonesia. Using provincial-level data over the period 2001-2014, we estimate the simultaneous equation model (SEM) to circumvent the possibility of interdependence between the interest variables. The result reveals that fiscal decentralization is associated with lower regional income disparity but not vice versa. The result confirms that regional income inequality and the provision of public goods are simultaneously determined. The result provides no evidence of interdependence between fiscal decentralization and the provision of local public goods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]