Intertwined Federalism: Accountability Problems under Partial Decentralization
Abstract
Decentralization of expenditure responsibilities from central to local governments is generally thought to increase overall government accountability by bringing the policymaking process closer to citizens. In practice, decentralization reforms tend to be partial in nature, leading to the coexistence of multiple tiers of government in public good provision. Electoral accountability in such a context presents voters with the complex task of assessing the respective role of each level of government in the policy outcomes that they observe. This paper analyses the effects of such partial decentralization on accountability using a two-period political agency model, in which two levels of government are involved in public good provision and voters are imperfectly informed about each government’s contribution to the public good. The model predicts that a departure from complete centralization (or decentralization) will, in general, have ambiguous consequences for voter welfare, the benefits associated with the vertical complementarity among governments being weighed against the loss of accountability following from imperfect information and detrimental vertical interactions among levels of government.Download Info
If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the proper application to view it first. In case of further problems read the IDEAS help page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS site. Please be patient as the files may be large.Bibliographic Info
Paper provided by Departement d'Economique de la Faculte d'administration à l'Universite de Sherbrooke in its series Cahiers de recherche with number 08-22.Length: 34 pages
Date of creation: 2008
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:shr:wpaper:08-22
Contact details of provider:
Postal: Sherbrooke, Québec, J1K 2R1
Phone: (819) 821-7233
Fax: (819) 821-6930
Email:
Web page: http://www.gredi.org/home/documents-de-travail
More information through EDIRC
Related research
Keywords: decentralization; accountability; shared responsibility; federalism; vertical interactions;Other versions of this item:
- Marcelin Joanis, 2009. "Intertwined Federalism: Accountability Problems under Partial Decentralization," CIRANO Working Papers 2009s-39, CIRANO.
- H77 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - Intergovernmental Relations; Federalism
- D72 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
- H11 - Public Economics - - Structure and Scope of Government - - - Structure and Scope of Government
This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:
- NEP-ALL-2008-12-07 (All new papers)
- NEP-PBE-2008-12-07 (Public Economics)
- NEP-POL-2008-12-07 (Positive Political Economics)
References
References listed on IDEASPlease report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
- Alberto Alesina & Guido Tabellini, 2007.
"Bureaucrats or Politicians? Part I: A Single Policy Task,"
Levine's Working Paper Archive
321307000000000870, David K. Levine.
- Alberto Alesina & Guido Tabellini, 2007. "Bureaucrats or Politicians? Part I: A Single Policy Task," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 97(1), pages 169-179, March.
- Lockwood, Ben, 1998.
"Distributive Politics and the Costs of Centralization,"
CEPR Discussion Papers
2046, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
- Lockwood, Ben, 2002. "Distributive Politics and the Costs of Centralization," Review of Economic Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 69(2), pages 313-37, April.
- Besley, Timothy & Smart, Michael, 2007.
"Fiscal restraints and voter welfare,"
Journal of Public Economics,
Elsevier, vol. 91(3-4), pages 755-773, April.
- Timothy Besley & Michael Smart, 2005. "Fiscal Restraints and Voter Welfare," STICERD - Political Economy and Public Policy Paper Series 06, Suntory and Toyota International Centres for Economics and Related Disciplines, LSE.
- Alesina, Alberto & Tabellini, Guido, 2008.
"Bureaucrats or politicians? Part II: Multiple policy tasks,"
Journal of Public Economics,
Elsevier, vol. 92(3-4), pages 426-447, April.
- Alberto Alesina & Guido Tabellini, 2007. "Bureaucrats or Politicians? Part II: Multiple Policy Tasks," Levine's Working Paper Archive 321307000000000875, David K. Levine.
- Hans Carlsson & Eric van Damme, 1993.
"Global Games and Equilibrium Selection,"
Levine's Working Paper Archive
122247000000001088, David K. Levine.
- Carlsson, Hans & van Damme, Eric, 1993. "Global Games and Equilibrium Selection," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 61(5), pages 989-1018, September.
- Carlsson, H. & Van Damme, E., 1990. "Global Games And Equilibrium Selection," Papers 9052, Tilburg - Center for Economic Research.
- Carlsson, H. & Damme, E.E.C. van, 1993. "Global games and equilibrium selection," Open Access publications from Tilburg University urn:nbn:nl:ui:12-154416, Tilburg University.
- Carlsson, H. & Damme, E.E.C. van, 1990. "Global games and equilibrium selection," Discussion Paper 1990-52, Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research.
- Jing Jin & Heng-fu Zou, 2000.
"How does fiscal decentralization affect aggregate, national, and subnational government size?,"
CEMA Working Papers
72, China Economics and Management Academy, Central University of Finance and Economics.
- Jin, Jing & Zou, Heng-fu, 2002. "How does fiscal decentralization affect aggregate, national, and subnational government size?," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(2), pages 270-293, September.
- Brulhart, Marius & Jametti, Mario, 2006.
"Vertical versus horizontal tax externalities: An empirical test,"
Journal of Public Economics,
Elsevier, vol. 90(10-11), pages 2027-2062, November.
- Brülhart, Marius & Jametti, Mario, 2004. "Vertical versus Horizontal Tax Externalities: An Empirical Test," CEPR Discussion Papers 4593, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
- Marius Brülhart & Mario Jametti, 2004. "Vertical Versus Horizontal Tax Externalities: An Empirical Test," Department of Economics Working Papers 2004-14, McMaster University.
- Marius BRÜLHART & Mario JAMETTI, 2004. "Vertical Versus Horizontal Tax Externalities: An Empirical Test," Cahiers de Recherches Economiques du Département d'Econométrie et d'Economie politique (DEEP) 04.11, Université de Lausanne, Faculté des HEC, DEEP.
- Wilson, John Douglas & Janeba, Eckhard, 2005.
"Decentralization and international tax competition,"
Journal of Public Economics,
Elsevier, vol. 89(7), pages 1211-1229, July.
- John Wilson & Eckhard Janeba, 2003. "Decentralization and International Tax Competition," CESifo Working Paper Series 854, CESifo Group Munich.
- Grossman, Philip J & West, Edwin G, 1994. " Federalism and the Growth of Government Revisited," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 79(1-2), pages 19-32, April.
- Oates, Wallace E, 1985. "Searching for Leviathan: An Empirical Study," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 75(4), pages 748-57, September.
- Bardhan, Pranab & Mookherjee, Dilip, 2005. "Decentralizing antipoverty program delivery in developing countries," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(4), pages 675-704, April.
- Arzaghi, Mohammad & Henderson, J. Vernon, 2005. "Why countries are fiscally decentralizing," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(7), pages 1157-1189, July.
- Ben Lockwood, 2002. "Distributive Politics and the Costs of Centralization," Review of Economic Studies, Oxford University Press, vol. 69(2), pages 313-337.
- Besley, Timothy & Coate, Stephen, 2003. "Centralized versus decentralized provision of local public goods: a political economy approach," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(12), pages 2611-2637, December.
- Mariano Tommasi & Federico Weinschelbaum, 2007. "Centralization vs. Decentralization: A Principal-Agent Analysis," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 9(2), pages 369-389, 04.
- Yukihiro Nishimura, 2006. "Human Fallibility, Complementarity, and Fiscal Decentralization," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 8(3), pages 487-501, 08.
- Panizza, Ugo, 1999. "On the determinants of fiscal centralization: Theory and evidence," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 74(1), pages 97-139, October.
- Galeotti, Gianluigi & Breton, Albert, 1986. "An Economic Theory of Political Parties," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(1), pages 47-65.
- Michael J. Keen & Christos Kotsogiannis, 2002. "Does Federalism Lead to Excessively High Taxes?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 92(1), pages 363-370, March.
- Dilip Mookherjee & Pranab K. Bardhan, 2000. "Capture and Governance at Local and National Levels," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 90(2), pages 135-139, May.
- Marlow, Michael L, 1991. " Privatization and Government Size," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 68(1-3), pages 273-76, January.
- Seabright, Paul, 1996.
"Accountability and decentralisation in government: An incomplete contracts model,"
European Economic Review,
Elsevier, vol. 40(1), pages 61-89, January.
- Seabright, Paul, 1994. "Accountability and Decentralization in Government: An Incomplete Contracts Model," CEPR Discussion Papers 889, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
- Wilson, John D., 1986. "A theory of interregional tax competition," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(3), pages 296-315, May.
Citations
Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.Cited by:
- Marcelin Joanis, 2009.
"Sharing the blame? Local electoral accountability and centralized school finance in California,"
Working Papers
2009/33, Institut d'Economia de Barcelona (IEB).
- Marcelin Joanis, 2009. "Sharing the Blame? Local Electoral Accountability and Centralized School Finance in California," Cahiers de recherche 09-21, Departement d'Economique de la Faculte d'administration à l'Universite de Sherbrooke.
- Mario Jametti & Marcelin Joanis, 2011.
"Electoral Competition as a Determinant of Fiscal Decentralization,"
CESifo Working Paper Series
3574, CESifo Group Munich.
- Mario Jametti & Marcelin Joanis, 2011. "Electoral Competition as a Determinant of Fiscal Decentralization," Cahiers de recherche 11-11, Departement d'Economique de la Faculte d'administration à l'Universite de Sherbrooke.
- Mario Jametti & Marcelin Joanis, 2011. "Electoral Competition as a Determinant of Fiscal Decentralization," Quaderni della facoltà di Scienze economiche dell'Università di Lugano 1107, USI Università della Svizzera italiana.
- Mario Jametti & Marcelin Joanis, 2010. "Determinants of fiscal decentralization: political economy aspects," Working Papers 2010/7, Institut d'Economia de Barcelona (IEB).
- Geys, Benny & Vermeir, Jan, 2012. "Party cues in elections under multilevel governance: Theory and evidence from US states," Discussion Papers, Research Professorship & Project "The Future of Fiscal Federalism" SP II 2012-107, Social Science Research Center Berlin (WZB).
- Massimo Bordignon & Santino Piazza, 2010.
"Who do you Blame in Local Finance? An Analysis of Municipal Financing in Italy,"
CESifo Working Paper Series
3100, CESifo Group Munich.
- Massimo Bordignon & Santino Piazza, 2010. "Who do you blame in local finance? An analysis of municipal financing in Italy," DISCE - Quaderni dell'Istituto di Economia e Finanza ief0094, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Dipartimenti e Istituti di Scienze Economiche (DISCE).
- Hickey, Ross, 2010. "Intergovernmental Transfers and Re-Election Concerned Politicians," MPRA Paper 27204, University Library of Munich, Germany.
- James Alm & Robert D. Buschman & David L. Sjoquist, 0.
"Citizen "Trust" as an Explanation of State Education Funding to Local School Districts,"
Publius: The Journal of Federalism,
Oxford University Press, vol. 41(4), pages 636-661.
- James Alm & Robert D. Buschman & David L. Sjoquist, 2012. "Citizen "Trust" as an Explanation of State Education Funding to Local School Districts," Working Papers 1208, Tulane University, Department of Economics.
Lists
This item is not listed on Wikipedia, on a reading list or among the top items on IDEAS.Statistics
Access and download statisticsCorrections
When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:shr:wpaper:08-22For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: (Luc Savard).
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 references are entirely missing, you can add them using this form.
If the full references list an item that is present in RePEc, but the system did not link 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 profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.
Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

