In this paper, we investigate differences in and determinants of technical efficiency across three groups of OECD, Asian and Latin American countries. As technical efficiency determines the capacity with which countries absorb technology produced abroad, these differences are important to...

Contents: 1. Introduction -- 2. Fiscal federalism -- 3. Bureaucratic incentives -- 4. Information, monitoring and control -- 5. The local state -- 6. Logic of divergence -- 7. Conclusion -- References -- Index.