It is shown that any informationally decentralized mechanism that realizes fair allocations over the class of classical pure exchange environments has a message space of dimension no smaller than the number of agents times the number of commodities. Since the equal income Walrasian mechanism, in...

We explore the implications for the optimal degree of fiscal decentralization when people’s preferences for goods and services—which classic treatments of fiscal federalism (Oates in Fiscal federalism, <CitationRef CitationID="CR16">1972</CitationRef>) place in the purview of local governments—exhibit specific egalitarianism (Tobin...</citationref>

Differences in the degree of fiscal decentralization observed between the U.S. and many countries in Europe cannot be explained within the standard theory of fiscal decentralization. By introducing preferences for solidarity – equality in the provision of public goods and services across...

A notable difference between the U.S. and many countries in Europe is in the degree of fiscal decentralization. Regional (and local) governments in the U.S. have significant autonomy in setting their own taxes and determining how to spend their revenues. This is not true of their counterparts in...

We explore the implications for the optimal degree of fiscal decentralization when peoples preferences for goods and services, which classic treatments of fiscal federalism (Oates, 1972) place in the purview of local governments, exhibit specific egalitarianism (Tobin, 1970), or solidarity. We...