IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/rfe/zbefri/v32y2014i2p213-232.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The restructuring of the fiscal equalization system in Croatia

Author

Listed:
  • Marko Primorac

    (University of Zagreb, Faculty of Economics and Business Zagreb, Croatia)

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to propose a model of fiscal equalization in Croatia. This paper tests the hypothesis of a lack of effectiveness of the existing fiscal equalization model compared to a model that would be based on alleviating the difference in the potential to collect revenue from the personal income tax and surtax. Fiscal inequalities of local government units are determined first under the current equalization system by calculating the Gini coefficients and graphically presented with Lorenz curves. Thereafter, a distribution of equalization grants is simulated based on the new (proposed) model. The effectiveness of the proposed model in alleviating the fiscal inequalities is determined in relation to the effectiveness of the current equalization system. It was found that the model based on equalizing the difference in the capacity to collect revenue from the personal income tax and surtax alleviates inequalities in fiscal capacities of local government units much better than the existing system at the same cost. The main conclusion is that the fiscal equalization in Croatia should urgently be redesigned in order to improve efficiency and fairness, but also the transparency and credibility of the equalization system.

Suggested Citation

  • Marko Primorac, 2014. "The restructuring of the fiscal equalization system in Croatia," Zbornik radova Ekonomskog fakulteta u Rijeci/Proceedings of Rijeka Faculty of Economics, University of Rijeka, Faculty of Economics and Business, vol. 32(2), pages 213-232.
    • Handle: RePEc:rfe:zbefri:v:32:y:2014:i:2:p:213-232
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.efri.uniri.hr/sites/efri.uniri.hr/files/cr-collections/2/05-primorac-2014-2-1419233668.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Alexander Kalb, 2010. "The Impact of Intergovernmental Grants on Cost Efficiency: Theory and Evidence from German Municipalities," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 40(1), pages 21-63, March.
    2. Julius Margolis, 1970. "The Analysis of Public Output," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number marg70-1, March.
    3. Guy Gilbert & Alain Guengant, 2003. "The equalizing performance of central government grants to local authorities : the case of France," Post-Print halshs-00103147, HAL.
    4. Viktor Trasberg, 2004. "Fiscal federalism in the Baltic countries: from Soviets to EU," ERSA conference papers ersa04p153, European Regional Science Association.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Carlo Borzaga & Silvia Sacchetti, 2015. "Why Social Enterprises Are Asking to Be Multi-stakeholder and Deliberative: An Explanation around the Costs of Exclusion," Euricse Working Papers 1575, Euricse (European Research Institute on Cooperative and Social Enterprises).
    2. Rogers Ahlbrandt, 1973. "Efficiency in the provision of fire services," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 16(1), pages 1-15, September.
    3. Giovanni Compiani & Philip Haile & Marcelo Sant’Anna, 2020. "Common Values, Unobserved Heterogeneity, and Endogenous Entry in US Offshore Oil Lease Auctions," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 128(10), pages 3872-3912.
    4. Papageorgiou, Yorgos Y. & Pines, David, 2000. "Externalities, Indivisibility, Nonreplicability, and Agglomeration," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(3), pages 509-535, November.
    5. Kuehn, Daniel, 2021. "James Buchanan, Gordon Tullock, and the “Radically Irresponsible” One Person, One Vote Decisions," OSF Preprints zetq4, Center for Open Science.
    6. Isabel Narbón-Perpiñá & Maria Teresa Balaguer-Coll & Marko Petrović & Emili Tortosa-Ausina, 2020. "Which estimator to measure local governments’ cost efficiency? The case of Spanish municipalities," SERIEs: Journal of the Spanish Economic Association, Springer;Spanish Economic Association, vol. 11(1), pages 51-82, March.
    7. Karoly Fazekas & Jeno Koltay (ed.), 2002. "The Hungarian Labour Market 2002," The Hungarian Labour Market Yearbooks, Institute of Economics, Centre for Economic and Regional Studies, number 2002, December.
    8. Isabel Narbón-Perpiñá & Maria Teresa Balaguer-Coll & Diego Prior & Emili Tortosa-Ausina, 2021. "Searching for the optimal territorial structure: the case of Spanish provincial councils," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 55(4), pages 645-664, April.
    9. Haug, Peter, 2013. "Grant Dependence, Regulation and the Effects of Formula-based Grant Systems on German Local Governments: A Data Report for Saxony-Anhalt," IWH Discussion Papers 2/2013, Halle Institute for Economic Research (IWH).
    10. Dorn, Florian, 2023. "Elections and Government Efficiency," VfS Annual Conference 2023 (Regensburg): Growth and the "sociale Frage" 277700, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    11. C.D. Foster, 1972. "Public Finance Aspects of National Settlement Patterns," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 9(1), pages 79-97, February.
    12. Donna Driscoll & Dennis Halcoussis & Anton D. Lowenberg, 2010. "Explaining Local Growth-Management Policies: The Role of Public Goods," American Journal of Economics and Business Administration, Science Publications, vol. 2(1), pages 45-55, March.
    13. Puelz, Robert & Snow, Arthur, 1994. "Evidence on Adverse Selection: Equilibrium Signaling and Cross-Subsidization in the Insurance Market," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 102(2), pages 236-257, April.
    14. Lars Feld, 2014. "James Buchanan’s theory of federalism: from fiscal equity to the ideal political order," Constitutional Political Economy, Springer, vol. 25(3), pages 231-252, September.
    15. Takeshi Kato & Yasuyuki Kudo & Junichi Miyakoshi & Jun Otsuka & Hayato Saigo & Kaori Karasawa & Hiroyuki Yamaguchi & Yasuo Deguchi, 2020. "Rational Choice Hypothesis as X-point of Utility Function and Norm Function," Applied Economics and Finance, Redfame publishing, vol. 7(4), pages 63-77, July.
    16. Alger, Ingela & Weibull, Jörgen W., 2016. "Morality: evolutionary foundations and policy implications," TSE Working Papers 16-702, Toulouse School of Economics (TSE).
    17. Enrique J. Buch‐Gómez & Roberto Cabaleiro‐Casal, 2020. "Turnout, political strength, and cost efficiency in Spanish municipalities of the autonomous region of Galicia: Evidence from an alternative stochastic frontier approach," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 99(3), pages 533-553, June.
    18. Titl, Vitezslav & De Witte, Kristof & Geys, Benny, 2021. "Political donations, public procurement and government efficiency," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 148(C).
    19. Pierre Heumann, 1984. "Markthindernisse, Transaktionskosten und property rights: Möglichkeiten für eine rationale Energiepolitik," Swiss Journal of Economics and Statistics (SJES), Swiss Society of Economics and Statistics (SSES), vol. 120(III), pages 367-382, September.
    20. Takeshi Kato & Yasuyuki Kudo & Junichi Miyakoshi & Jun Otsuka & Hayato Saigo & Kaori Karasawa & Hiroyuki Yamaguchi & Yoshinori Hiroi & Yasuo Deguchi, 2020. "Sustainability and Fairness Simulations Based on Decision-Making Model of Utility Function and Norm Function," Applied Economics and Finance, Redfame publishing, vol. 7(3), pages 96-114, May.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    local government units; fiscal inequalities; fiscal equalization; Gini coefficient; Lorenz curve; Croatia;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H77 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - Intergovernmental Relations; Federalism
    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:rfe:zbefri:v:32:y:2014:i:2:p:213-232. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Danijela Ujcic (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/efrijhr.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.