federalism in which centralization is less likely to occur where budget referendums are possible. The reason for this result is … that budget referendums reduce the extent to which pro-centralization regions can commit to a low level of spending … delegating the centralization choice to elected policymakers. In addition, it reduces the ability of higher level policy …

attendance. In particular, the common perception that centralization of public school finance will necessarily lead to greater … centralization involves an extreme equalization of the kind observed in California. Furthermore, if centralization occurs through … schools in centralizing states imply that general public school quality does not drop as a result of such centralization …

question then is why this has not happened in China. We argue that the answer lies in the degree of political centralization … believe the experience of Russia indicates that another ingredient is crucial, namely political centralization …

This paper examines policy centralization outcomes in a two-jurisdiction, political economy model of public good … choice procedures, namely, direct democracy and representative democracy. We show that policy centralization is more likely … device by a pro-centralization jurisdiction and induce a reluctant partner to cooperate. In these situations, policy …