We analyze how the merger of regions affects capital tax competition in a two-tier territorial organization where both regions and cities share the same mobile tax base. We identify three effects generated by the merger of regions that impact, either directly or indirectly, both regional and...

Dans cet article, nous dérivons de façon endogène le phénomène de contrainte budgétaire molle dans le cadre d’une fédération lorsque les décisions budgétaires sont prises au niveau décentralisé. Dans ce modèle, la mollesse de la contrainte budgétaire régionale découle de...

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the effect of inter-municipal cooperation on local taxation. Municipalities that join/create an inter-municipal jurisdiction choose between three tax regimes, which may induce both horizontal and vertical tax externalities. Using the differences in...

Our paper identifies a potential problem with decentralization at a time when its virtues are widely extolled. We show that responsibility for equalization at multi-levels within a decentralized federation creates an overlapping equalization policy that can worsen fiscal discipline. Contrary to...

This article evaluates the efficiency of a market for tradable deficit permits as a mechanism for implementing budgetary austerity at the local level, when the initial allocation of deficit rights can be manipulated. The way déficit rights are allocated in the market turns out to be decisive...

In this article, we endogenously derive the soft budget constraint phenomenon in a federation when fiscal decisions are delegated to regions. In this framework, the softness of the regional budget constraint results from federal government cross-subsidization objective. We analyse the impact of...