While there is extensive knowledge about how to design fiscal decentralization policies, considerably less is understood about how a decentralization program should be sequenced and implemented. Countries embarking on decentralization often struggle with decisions about the essential components...

Rule #1 Fiscal decentralization should be viewed as a comprehensive system.Rule #2 Finance follows function.Rule #3There must be a strong central ability to monitor and evaluate decentralization.Rule #4 One intergovernmental system does not fit the urban and the rural sector. Rule #5 Fiscal...

The choice of the"right"fiscal relationship between central, provincial, and local governments depends on how a government weighs the benefits of decentralized economic development policies against the costs of having less effective central fiscal management. Three strong forces justify more...

The main theme of this paper is that a more legitimate and responsive state appears to be an essential precondition for a more adequate level of tax effort in developing countries. The most important contribution of this paper is to extend the conventional model of tax effort by showing that not...