Decentralization and Local Public Goods: Getting the Incentives Right

The paper addresses the nature and locus of appropriate government control in the provision of collective services. It suggests some useful principles |'ur determining organizational structures with the appropriate degree and form of decentralization, which is seen to be an important part of incentive compatibility. In the case of low-income housing, it cites the privatization of sites and services and the devolution of upgrading as two promising models of decentralization.