In many countries, public agencies or private firms are gradually moving away from being exclusive providers of goods and services that traditionally were assigned to the state or markets, respectively. Instead, state agencies, both at the national and the local level, and private organizations,...

While gerrymandering in developing countries is often pushed by local authorities to secure political advantages, fiscal grants systems under decentralization may also have result in the same. We investigate this issue to identify the correlates of the growth in the number of cities in the...

This study investigates the importance of leadership as a driver of local government innovations. Based on a survey of 209 innovations introduced in selected 48 local governments in the Philippines during the period June 2004-June 2008, the observable qualities and possible incentives of...

While the poverty reductions in the Philippines in 2012–2018 are modest compared to what Vietnam, China or Indonesia achieved, all trends indicated the country's continuing growth will be inclusive. This paper traces the evolution and decomposition of poverty and inequality in 2000–2018...

This paper examines how natural disasters affect local public finances and their interplay with intergovernmental transfers and external resources. Exploiting the randomized nature of the 2013 Typhoon Haiyan, one of the most devastating natural disasters in recent history, we document its causal...

A cluster randomized controlled trial was undertaken, testing two sets of interventions to encourage enrollment in the Philippines'Individual Payer Program. Of 243 municipalities, 179 were randomly assigned as intervention sites and 64 as controls. In early 2011, 2,950 families were interviewed;...

In many countries, public agencies or private firms are gradually moving away from being exclusive providers of goods and services that traditionally were assigned to the state or markets, respectively. Instead, state agencies, both at the national and the local level, and private organizations,...

This paper examines how natural disasters affect local public finances and their interplay with intergovernmental transfers and external resources. Exploiting the randomized nature of the 2013 Typhoon Haiyan, one of the most devastating natural disasters in recent history, we document its causal...

The treatment of drinking water is advocated to reduce the incidence of child diarrhea. However, evaluating the impact of water treatment with only observational data leads to biased estimates since it could be the occurrence of child diarrhea that induced the household to treat their drinking...