Governments pursue fiscal decentralization for a variety of reasons: to make government more responsive and accountable to the people, to increase the efficiency of the public sector, and to promote national cohesion. Generally speaking, public sector economists emphasize the accountability and...

India's fiscal deficit and steep deterioration in state finances is a source of concern. The literature abounds with references to the combined fiscal deficit of the center and the states currently at over 10 per cent of GDP. During no other eight year period has the debt-GDP ratio rose by more...