IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/hal/wpaper/halshs-01101558.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

State fragility and fiscal decentralization in EU ex-communist countries in a public choice approach

Author

Listed:
  • Francesco Forte

    (UNIROMA - Università degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza" = Sapienza University [Rome])

  • Mihai Mutascu

    (LEO - Laboratoire d'Économie d'Orleans [UMR7322] - UO - Université d'Orléans - UT - Université de Tours - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

Abstract

While in J. Buchanan clubs theory, the decentralized governments should supply only public goods suited to their spatial dimension, for G. Tullock the decentralization should prevail over spatial dimension of the public goods to broaden individuals" control on government. For A. Peacock too, devolution responds to the demand of participation against the irrelevance of the individuals in centralization, but an extended "dispersive revolution" might increase rather than decrease the "government failures". Under Coase theory of the firm, applied to the government as firm, contracting out is limited by the cost of the deterioration of the power control. We here, therefore, investigates the impact of the quantitative dimension of fiscal decentralization on the political robustness of the considered states in term of fragility, for 10 European Union (EU) ex-communist countries, over the period 1995-2012, by a panel-model approach. The main results show that between state fragility and fiscal decentralization there is a relationship with inverted-U and U shapes, analogous to the BARS (Barro, Armey, Rahn, and Scully) curve relating the government size to GDP growth. Fragility is low under reduced revenues inequality and inflation rate, and rises when the urbanization and democratization decrease, under given level of political rights. The relation between the fragility curve and the BARS curve may need further research. The relation between the fragility curve and the BARS curve may need further research.

Suggested Citation

  • Francesco Forte & Mihai Mutascu, 2015. "State fragility and fiscal decentralization in EU ex-communist countries in a public choice approach," Working Papers halshs-01101558, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-01101558
    Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://shs.hal.science/halshs-01101558v3
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://shs.hal.science/halshs-01101558v3/document
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Feng, Yi, 1997. "Democracy, Political Stability and Economic Growth," British Journal of Political Science, Cambridge University Press, vol. 27(3), pages 391-418, July.
    2. Timothy Besley & Torsten Persson, 2011. "Fragile States And Development Policy," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 9(3), pages 371-398, June.
    3. John C. Driscoll & Aart C. Kraay, 1998. "Consistent Covariance Matrix Estimation With Spatially Dependent Panel Data," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 80(4), pages 549-560, November.
    4. Vallings, Claire & Moreno-Torres, Magui, 2005. "Drivers Of Fragility: What Makes States Fragile?," PRDE Working Papers 12824, Department for International Development (DFID) (UK).
    5. Daniel Hoechle, 2007. "Robust standard errors for panel regressions with cross-sectional dependence," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 7(3), pages 281-312, September.
    6. Oasis Kodila-Tedika & Asongu Simplice, 2016. "State fragility, rent seeking and lobbying: evidence from African data," International Journal of Social Economics, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 43(10), pages 1016-1030, October.
    7. David Roodman, 2009. "How to do xtabond2: An introduction to difference and system GMM in Stata," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 9(1), pages 86-136, March.
    8. Patrick GUILLAUMONT & Sylviane GUILLAUMONT JEANNENEY, 2009. "State fragility and economic vulnerability: What is measured and why?," Working Papers P07, FERDI.
    9. Jorge Martinez-Vazquez & Andrey Timofeev, 2009. "Decentralization Measures Revisited," International Center for Public Policy Working Paper Series, at AYSPS, GSU paper0913, International Center for Public Policy, Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, Georgia State University.
    10. Akai, Nobuo & Sakata, Masayo, 2002. "Fiscal decentralization contributes to economic growth: evidence from state-level cross-section data for the United States," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(1), pages 93-108, July.
    11. David Carment & Stewart Prest & Yiagadeesen Samy, 2008. "Determinants of State Fragility and Implications for Aid Allocation: An Assessment Based on the Country Indicators for Foreign Policy Project," WIDER Working Paper Series RP2008-46, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    12. Leeson, Peter T., 2011. "Government, clubs, and constitutions," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 80(2), pages 301-308.
    13. James M. Buchanan, 1996. "Federalism and Individual Sovereignty," Cato Journal, Cato Journal, Cato Institute, vol. 15(2-3), pages 259-268, Fall/Wint.
    14. Patrick Guillaumont & Sylviane Guillaumont Jeanneney, 2009. "State Fragility and Economic Vulnerability. What is measured and why?," Post-Print hal-00424004, HAL.
    15. Blundell, Richard & Bond, Stephen, 1998. "Initial conditions and moment restrictions in dynamic panel data models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 87(1), pages 115-143, August.
    16. Beata Farkas, 2011. "The Central and Eastern European model of capitalism," Post-Communist Economies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(1), pages 15-34.
    17. Graziella Bertocchi & Andrea Guerzoni, 2012. "Growth, history, or institutions," Journal of Peace Research, Peace Research Institute Oslo, vol. 49(6), pages 769-783, November.
    18. Mr. Luc Eyraud & Ms. Anita Tuladhar & Mr. Julio Escolano & Ms. Marialuz Moreno Badia & Ms. Juliane Sarnes, 2012. "Fiscal Performance, Institutional Design and Decentralization in European Union Countries," IMF Working Papers 2012/045, International Monetary Fund.
    19. Martin Paldam, 1987. "Inflation and political instability in eight Latin American countries 1946-83," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 52(2), pages 143-168, January.
    20. Manuel Arellano & Stephen Bond, 1991. "Some Tests of Specification for Panel Data: Monte Carlo Evidence and an Application to Employment Equations," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 58(2), pages 277-297.
    21. Francesco Forte & Cosimo Magazzino, 2011. "Optimal Size Government and Economic Growth in EU Countries," Economia politica, Società editrice il Mulino, issue 3, pages 295-322.
    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. Kodila-Tedika , Oasis, 2014. "Forget your gods: African evidence on the relation between state capacity and cognitive ability of leading politicians," European Economic Letters, European Economics Letters Group, vol. 3(1), pages 7-11.
    2. Olaoye, Olumide O. & Eluwole, Oluwatosin O. & Ayesha, Aziz & Afolabi, Olugbenga O., 2020. "Government spending and economic growth in ECOWAS: An asymmetric analysis," The Journal of Economic Asymmetries, Elsevier, vol. 22(C).
    3. Michel Dumont, 2015. "Working Paper 05-15 - Evaluation of federal tax incentives for private R&D in Belgium: An update," Working Papers 1505, Federal Planning Bureau, Belgium.
    4. Hiroyuki Takeshima & Ian Masias & Myat Thida Win & Phoo Pye Zone, 2023. "Effects of COVID‐19 restrictions on mechanization service providers and mechanization equipment retailers: Insights from phone surveys in Myanmar," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(1), pages 323-351, February.
    5. Gnangnon, Sèna Kimm & Roberts, Michael, 2015. "Aid for trade, foreign direct investment and export upgrading in recipient countries," WTO Staff Working Papers ERSD-2015-10, World Trade Organization (WTO), Economic Research and Statistics Division.
    6. Mohl, P. & Hagen, T., 2010. "Do EU structural funds promote regional growth? New evidence from various panel data approaches," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(5), pages 353-365, September.
    7. Charles Shaaba Saba & Nicholas Ngepah, 2019. "A cross-regional analysis of military expenditure, state fragility and economic growth in Africa," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 53(6), pages 2885-2915, November.
    8. Alessandro Federici & Pierluigi Montalbano, 2012. "Macroeconomic volatility, consumption behaviour and welfare: A cross-country analysis," Working Paper Series 3612, Department of Economics, University of Sussex Business School.
    9. Gnangnon Sèna Kimm, 2017. "Empirical Evidence on the Impact of Multilateral Trade Liberalization on Domestic Trade Policy," Global Economy Journal, De Gruyter, vol. 17(3), pages 1-14, September.
    10. Michal Madr, 2016. "Economic Development as a Factor of Democratisation: Evidence from Post-Socialist Economies," MENDELU Working Papers in Business and Economics 2016-70, Mendel University in Brno, Faculty of Business and Economics.
    11. Larch, Martin & Orseau, Eloïse & van der Wielen, Wouter, 2021. "Do EU fiscal rules support or hinder counter-cyclical fiscal policy?," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 112(C).
    12. Oasis Kodila-Tedika & Remy Bolito-Losembe, 2014. "Corruption et Etats fragiles africains," African Development Review, African Development Bank, vol. 26(1), pages 50-58, March.
    13. Sèna Kimm Gnangnon & Harish Iyer, 2017. "Structural Economic Vulnerability, Trade Policy and FDI Inflows," Journal of International Commerce, Economics and Policy (JICEP), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 8(01), pages 1-35, February.
    14. Muhammad Usman Arshad, 2021. "Forecasted E/P Ratio and ROE: Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE), China," SAGE Open, , vol. 11(2), pages 21582440211, June.
    15. Abdulrasheed Zakari & Bahareh Oryani & Rafael Alvarado & Kadir Mumini, 2023. "Assessing the impact of green energy and finance on environmental performance in China and Japan," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 56(2), pages 1185-1199, April.
    16. Rabia Haroon & Zainab Jehan, 2022. "Measuring the impact of violence on macroeconomic instability: evidence from developing countries," Portuguese Economic Journal, Springer;Instituto Superior de Economia e Gestao, vol. 21(1), pages 3-30, January.
    17. Izaskun Zuazu, 2022. "Electoral systems and income inequality: a tale of political equality," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 63(2), pages 793-819, August.
    18. Baghestanian, S. & Lugovskyy, V. & Puzzello, D., 2015. "Traders’ heterogeneity and bubble-crash patterns in experimental asset markets," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 82-101.
    19. Ulrich Eydam & Florian Leupold, 2023. "What is it good for? On the Inflationary Effects of Military Conflicts," CEPA Discussion Papers 65, Center for Economic Policy Analysis.
    20. Dang, Van Dan, 2022. "Bank liquidity creation under micro uncertainty: The conditioning role of income structure," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 112(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Fiscal decentralization; Analysis; State fragility; Connection;
    All these keywords.

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:hal:wpaper:halshs-01101558. 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: CCSD (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/ .

    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.