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In Government We Trust: The Role of Fiscal Decentralization

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  • Jenny Ligthart

    (Department of Economics and CentER, Tilburg, University)

  • Peter van Oudheusden

    (Department of Economics and CentER, Tilburg, University)

Abstract

We measure the contribution of fiscal decentralization to trust in government. Using repeated cross-country survey data of individuals on several measures of trust in government over the 1994-2007 period, we estimate an ordered response model of the government trust and fiscal decentralization nexus. We control for unobserved country characteristics, macroeconomic determinants, and individual characteristics. Our main finding is that fiscal decentralization increases trust in government. More specifically, a one percentage point increase in fiscal decentralization causes roughly a four-fifths of a percentage point increase in government trust. The beneficial effect of fiscal decentralization on trust in government is neither limited to nor necessarily large for relatively decentralized countries.

Suggested Citation

  • Jenny Ligthart & Peter van Oudheusden, 2011. "In Government We Trust: The Role of Fiscal Decentralization," International Center for Public Policy Working Paper Series, at AYSPS, GSU paper1118, International Center for Public Policy, Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, Georgia State University.
    • Handle: RePEc:ays:ispwps:paper1118
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    Cited by:

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    2. Heiko T. Burret & Lars P. Feld, 2018. "Vertical effects of fiscal rules: the Swiss experience," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 25(3), pages 673-721, June.
    3. Kalenborn, Christine & Lessmann, Christian, 2014. "Regional Income Inequality lowers Life Satisfaction: Evidence from OECD Countries," VfS Annual Conference 2014 (Hamburg): Evidence-based Economic Policy 100561, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    4. Choudhury, Atrayee & Sahu, Sohini, 2022. "Revisiting the nexus between fiscal decentralization and government size - The role of ethnic fragmentation," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    5. Reingewertz, Yaniv, 2014. "Fiscal Decentralization - a Survey of the Empirical Literature," MPRA Paper 59889, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Luis Diaz-Serrano & Andrés Rodríguez-Pose, 2015. "Decentralization and the Welfare State: What Do Citizens Perceive?," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 120(2), pages 411-435, January.
    7. Kimlong Chheng & Budy P. Resosudarmo, 2021. "Land property rights and food insecurity in rural Cambodia," Regional Science Policy & Practice, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 13(6), pages 1911-1929, December.
    8. Erlingsson, Gissur Ó, 2020. "A Stranger Thing? Sweden – The Upside Down of Multilevel Trust," Working Paper Series 1356, Research Institute of Industrial Economics.
    9. John E. Anderson, 2017. "Trust in Government and Willingness to Pay Taxes in Transition Countries," Comparative Economic Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Association for Comparative Economic Studies, vol. 59(1), pages 1-22, March.
    10. David Bartolini & Agnese Sacchi & Domenico Scalera & Alberto Zazzaro, 2018. "The closer the better? Institutional distance and information blurring in a political agency model," Mo.Fi.R. Working Papers 146, Money and Finance Research group (Mo.Fi.R.) - Univ. Politecnica Marche - Dept. Economic and Social Sciences.
    11. Taiwo, Kayode, 2020. "The effect of decentralisation on access to sanitation and water services: An empirical test using international data," MPRA Paper 105426, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    12. Jiang, Weijie & Li, Yidong, 2023. "Effect of fiscal decentralization on pollution reduction: Firm-level evidence from China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 129(C).
    13. Choudhury, Atrayee & Sahu, Sohini, 2023. "Reconciling the mixed evidence in the fiscal decentralization-government size nexus using panel quantile regression," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    14. Qiao, Mo & Ding, Siying & Liu, Yongzheng, 2019. "Fiscal decentralization and government size: The role of democracy," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 316-330.
    15. Bruno Emmanuel ONGO NKOA & Derick Ulrich YOUNDA, 2022. "L’urbanisation accroît-elle l’assiette fiscale locale dans un contexte de décentralisation en Afrique subsaharienne ?," Region et Developpement, Region et Developpement, LEAD, Universite du Sud - Toulon Var, vol. 55, pages 93-111.
    16. Duygun, Meryem & Ozturk, Huseyin & Shaban, Mohamed, 2016. "The role of sovereign credit ratings in fiscal discipline," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 27(C), pages 197-216.
    17. Sibylle Puntscher & Janette Walde & Gottfried Tappeiner, 2016. "Do methodical traps lead to wrong development strategies for welfare? A multilevel approach considering heterogeneity across industrialized and developing countries," Working Papers 2016-01, Faculty of Economics and Statistics, Universität Innsbruck.
    18. Olena Chygryn & Yuriy Petrushenko & Alina Vysochyna & Anna Vorontsova, 2018. "Assessment of Fiscal Decentralization Influence on Social and Economic Development," Montenegrin Journal of Economics, Economic Laboratory for Transition Research (ELIT), vol. 14(4), pages 69-84.
    19. Yunsoo Lee, 2021. "Government for Leaving No One Behind: Social Equity in Public Administration and Trust in Government," SAGE Open, , vol. 11(3), pages 21582440211, July.
    20. Bui, Duy Tung & Nguyen , Canh Phuc & Dinh , Thanh Su, 2021. "Fiscal Decentralisation and Externalities on Economic Growth: Spatial-provincial evidence from Vietnam," Journal of Economic Development, The Economic Research Institute, Chung-Ang University, vol. 46(4), pages 31-64, December.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Fiscal Decentralization; Government Trust; Social Capital;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D70 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - General
    • H11 - Public Economics - - Structure and Scope of Government - - - Structure and Scope of Government
    • H70 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - General
    • H72 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - State and Local Budget and Expenditures

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