The relationship between decentralization and the quality of governments is one of the core issues of decentralization studies. This paper aims to make two contributions to this research. Firstly, we conduct an empirical analysis at the local level, covering 174 regions across the European...

Decentralization can be generally described as a process in which selected functions are assigned to sub-national units. The literature identifies number of positive consequences of decentralization which all lead to better satisfaction of citizens? needs for public services. Although...