IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/cpp/issued/v30y2004i2p195-208.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Equalization and Stabilization

Author

Listed:
  • Michael Smart

Abstract

The federal Equalization transfer program makes fiscal resources of "have-not" provinces depend on fiscal conditions in "have" provinces, which tends to destabilize provincial finances: the data show that equalized revenues of receiving provinces are more volatile than own-source revenues. But this reflects the revenue risks facing the aggregate of all provinces, which an equalization program cannot insure. Controlling for aggregate risk, I find that the program has a significant stabilizing effect on provincial finances. Nevertheless, some improvements in revenue-sharing through the program might be contemplated. For example, a return to a national average capacity standard, from the five-province standard which has been in place since 1982, would increase insurance for idiosyncratic shocks by about one-third.

Suggested Citation

  • Michael Smart, 2004. "Equalization and Stabilization," Canadian Public Policy, University of Toronto Press, vol. 30(2), pages 195-208, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:cpp:issued:v:30:y:2004:i:2:p:195-208
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0317-0861%28200406%2930%3A2%3C195%3AEAS%3E2.0.CO%3B2-D
    Download Restriction: only available to JSTOR subscribers
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Townsend, Robert M, 1994. "Risk and Insurance in Village India," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 62(3), pages 539-591, May.
    2. Robin Boadway & Masayoshi Hayashi, 2004. "An Evaluation of the Stabilization Properties of Equalization in Canada," Canadian Public Policy, University of Toronto Press, vol. 30(1), pages 91-109, March.
    3. Melitz, Jacques & Zumer, Frederic, 2002. "Regional redistribution and stabilization by the center in Canada, France, the UK and the US:: A reassessment and new tests," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(2), pages 263-286, November.
    4. Michael Smart, 1998. "Taxation and Deadweight Loss in a System of Intergovernmental Transfers," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 31(1), pages 189-206, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Ralf Hepp & Jürgen von Hagen, 2012. "Fiscal Federalism in Germany: Stabilization and Redistribution Before and After Unification," Publius: The Journal of Federalism, CSF Associates Inc., vol. 42(2), pages 234-259, April.
    2. Faruk Balli & Syed Basher & Rosmy Jean Louis, 2012. "Channels of risk-sharing among Canadian provinces: 1961–2006," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 43(2), pages 763-787, October.
    3. Masayoshi Hayashi, 2013. "On the Decomposition of Regional Stabilization and Redistribution," CIRJE F-Series CIRJE-F-910, CIRJE, Faculty of Economics, University of Tokyo.
    4. Robin Boadway & Katherine Cuff, 2017. "The impressive contribution of Canadian economists to fiscal federalism theory and policy," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 50(5), pages 1348-1380, December.
    5. Buettner, Thiess, 2009. "The contribution of equalization transfers to fiscal adjustment: Empirical results for German municipalities and a US-German comparison," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(3), pages 417-431, September.
    6. Robin Boadway & Masayoshi Hayashi, 2004. "An Evaluation of the Stabilization Properties of Equalization in Canada," Canadian Public Policy, University of Toronto Press, vol. 30(1), pages 91-109, March.
    7. Maxym Chaban & Graham M. Voss, 2016. "Is Canada an optimal currency area? An inflation targeting perspective," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 49(2), pages 738-771, May.
    8. Hotz, Joffre & Unterschultz, James R., 2009. "Hedging Alberta Government's Oil and Gas Revenue: Is Acting Like a Farmer a Viable Strategy?," Staff Paper Series 91401, University of Alberta, Department of Resource Economics and Environmental Sociology.

    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. Manuel E. Lago & Santiago Lago-Peñas & Jorge Martinez-Vazquez, 2024. "On the effects of intergovernmental grants: a survey," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 31(3), pages 856-908, June.
    2. Caterina Liesegang & Marco Runkel, 2009. "Corporate Income Taxation of Multinationals and Fiscal Equalization," CESifo Working Paper Series 2747, CESifo.
    3. Ana B. Ania & Andreas Wagener, 2021. "Laboratory federalism with public funds sharing," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 59(3), pages 1047-1065, July.
    4. Linda Andersson, 2008. "Fiscal Flows and Financial Markets: To What Extent Do They Provide Risk Sharing within Sweden?," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(7), pages 1003-1011.
    5. Caterina Liesegang & Marco Runkel, 2018. "Tax competition and fiscal equalization under corporate income taxation," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 25(2), pages 311-324, April.
    6. Masayoshi Hayashi, 2012. "Channels of Stabilization in a System of Local Public Health Insurance: The Case of the National Health Insurance in Japan," CIRJE F-Series CIRJE-F-847, CIRJE, Faculty of Economics, University of Tokyo.
    7. Albouy, David, 2012. "Evaluating the efficiency and equity of federal fiscal equalization," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(9-10), pages 824-839.
    8. Robin Boadway & Katherine Cuff, 2017. "The impressive contribution of Canadian economists to fiscal federalism theory and policy," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 50(5), pages 1348-1380, December.
    9. Philippe Cyrenne & Manish Pandey, 2015. "Fiscal equalization, government expenditures and endogenous growth," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 22(2), pages 311-329, April.
    10. Buettner, Thiess, 2009. "The contribution of equalization transfers to fiscal adjustment: Empirical results for German municipalities and a US-German comparison," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(3), pages 417-431, September.
    11. Robin Boadway, 2004. "The Theory and Practice of Equalization," CESifo Economic Studies, CESifo Group, vol. 50(1), pages 211-254.
    12. Andersson, Linda, 2004. "Output Smoothing between Regions in Sweden," Umeå Economic Studies 643, Umeå University, Department of Economics.
    13. Masayoshi Hayashi, 2013. "On the Decomposition of Regional Stabilization and Redistribution," CIRJE F-Series CIRJE-F-910, CIRJE, Faculty of Economics, University of Tokyo.
    14. Kathleen Beegle & Rajeev Dehejia & Roberta Gatti, 2003. "Child Labor, Crop Shocks, and Credit Constraints," NBER Working Papers 10088, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    15. Bonatti, Alessandro & Hörner, Johannes, 2017. "Learning to disagree in a game of experimentation," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 169(C), pages 234-269.
    16. Mahmud, Mahreen & Riley, Emma, 2021. "Household response to an extreme shock: Evidence on the immediate impact of the Covid-19 lockdown on economic outcomes and well-being in rural Uganda," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 140(C).
    17. Eleanor Jawon Choi & Jaewoo Choi & Hyelim Son, 2019. "The Long-Term Effects of Labor Market Entry in a Recession: Evidence from the Asian Financial Crisis," Upjohn Working Papers 19-312, W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research.
    18. Patnaik, Unmesh & Narayanan, K, 2010. "Vulnerability and Coping to Disasters: A Study of Household Behaviour in Flood Prone Region of India," MPRA Paper 21992, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    19. Corno, Lucia & Voena, Alessandra, 2023. "Child marriage as informal insurance: Empirical evidence and policy simulations," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 162(C).
    20. Pablo Sanguinetti & Martin Besfamille, 2004. "Exerting local tax effort or lobbying for central transfers?: Evidence from Argentina," Econometric Society 2004 Latin American Meetings 249, Econometric Society.

    More about this item

    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:cpp:issued:v:30:y:2004:i:2:p:195-208. 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: Iver Chong (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.utpjournals.press/loi/cpp .

    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.