IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecmode/v125y2023ics0264999323001591.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Reconciling the mixed evidence in the fiscal decentralization-government size nexus using panel quantile regression

Author

Listed:
  • Choudhury, Atrayee
  • Sahu, Sohini

Abstract

This study reconciles the contrasting evidence in the fiscal decentralization-government size nexus by hypothesizing that the effect of fiscal decentralization is conditional on the distribution of government size. Using panel quantile regression with non-additive fixed effects and with instrumental variable, we find evidence to our hypothesis for sixty-five countries across four decades. Fiscal decentralization's impact on government size is negative in the lower quantiles due to inter-jurisdictional competition, while it is positive in the middle and upper quantiles owing to the efficiency hypothesis. The nature of heterogeneity is robust across an alternate and more composite decentralization indicator of fiscal autonomy as well. By accounting for ethnic fragmentation and democracy as transmission channels, this heterogeneous pattern is consolidated. Thus, the findings suggest the importance of methodological refinement and socio-political transmission channels in explaining the equivocal relationship between fiscal decentralization and government size.

Suggested Citation

  • Choudhury, Atrayee & Sahu, Sohini, 2023. "Reconciling the mixed evidence in the fiscal decentralization-government size nexus using panel quantile regression," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecmode:v:125:y:2023:i:c:s0264999323001591
    DOI: 10.1016/j.econmod.2023.106347
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264999323001591
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.econmod.2023.106347?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Marianne P. Bitler & Jonah B. Gelbach & Hilary W. Hoynes, 2006. "What Mean Impacts Miss: Distributional Effects of Welfare Reform Experiments," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 96(4), pages 988-1012, September.
    2. Silvia Golem, 2010. "Fiscal decentralisation and the size of government: a review of the empirical literature," Financial Theory and Practice, Institute of Public Finance, vol. 34(1), pages 53-69.
    3. Axel Dreher & Kai Gehring & Christos Kotsogiannis & Silvia Marchesi, 2018. "Information transmission within federal fiscal architectures: theory and evidence," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 70(1), pages 243-265.
    4. Jorge Martinez-Vazquez & Santiago Lago-Peñas & Agnese Sacchi, 2017. "The Impact Of Fiscal Decentralization: A Survey," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(4), pages 1095-1129, September.
    5. Aurélie Cassette & Sonia Paty, 2010. "Fiscal decentralization and the size of government: a European country empirical analysis," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 143(1), pages 173-189, April.
    6. Jin, Jing & Zou, Heng-fu, 2002. "How does fiscal decentralization affect aggregate, national, and subnational government size?," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(2), pages 270-293, September.
    7. Harry Pickard, 2020. "Explaining fiscal decentralization and the role of ethnic Diversity," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 67(5), pages 469-485, November.
    8. Ernesto Stein, 1999. "Fiscal Decentralization and Government Size in Latin America," Journal of Applied Economics, Universidad del CEMA, vol. 2, pages 357-391, November.
    9. Jan-Egbert Sturm & Jakob De Haan, 2015. "Income Inequality, Capitalism, and Ethno-linguistic Fractionalization," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 105(5), pages 593-597, May.
    10. William Easterly & Ross Levine, 1997. "Africa's Growth Tragedy: Policies and Ethnic Divisions," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 112(4), pages 1203-1250.
    11. Ehdaie, Jaber, 1994. "Fiscal decentralization and the size of the government : an extension with evidence from cross-country data," Policy Research Working Paper Series 1387, The World Bank.
    12. Enikolopov, Ruben & Zhuravskaya, Ekaterina, 2007. "Decentralization and political institutions," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(11-12), pages 2261-2290, December.
    13. Agnese Sacchi & Simone Salotti, 2014. "The Effects of Fiscal Decentralization on Household Income Inequality: Some Empirical Evidence," Spatial Economic Analysis, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 9(2), pages 202-222, June.
    14. Ligthart, Jenny E. & van Oudheusden, Peter, 2015. "In government we trust: The role of fiscal decentralization," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 116-128.
    15. Joakim Westerlund, 2007. "Testing for Error Correction in Panel Data," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 69(6), pages 709-748, December.
    16. Andreas P. Kyriacou & Leonel Muinelo-Gallo & Oriol Roca-Sagalés, 2015. "Fiscal decentralization and regional disparities: The importance of good governance," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 94(1), pages 89-107, March.
    17. Ernesto Stein, 1999. "Fiscal Decentralization and Government Size in Latin America," Journal of Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 2(2), pages 357-391, November.
    18. Jorge Martinez-Vazquez & Ming-Hung Yao, 2009. "Fiscal Decentralization and Public Sector Employment: A Cross-Country Analysis," International Center for Public Policy Working Paper Series, at AYSPS, GSU paper0903, International Center for Public Policy, Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, Georgia State University.
    19. Koenker, Roger, 2004. "Quantile regression for longitudinal data," Journal of Multivariate Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 91(1), pages 74-89, October.
    20. Lars P. Feld & Gebhard Kirchgässner & Christoph A. Schaltegger, 2010. "Decentralized Taxation and the Size of Government: Evidence from Swiss State and Local Governments," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 77(1), pages 27-48, July.
    21. Dan Stegarescu, 2005. "Public sector decentralisation: measurement concepts and recent international trends," Fiscal Studies, Institute for Fiscal Studies, vol. 26(3), pages 301-333, September.
    22. Jorge Martinez-Vazquez & Ming-Hung Yao, 2009. "Fiscal Decentralization and Public Sector Employment," Public Finance Review, , vol. 37(5), pages 539-571, September.
    23. Fan, C. Simon & Lin, Chen & Treisman, Daniel, 2009. "Political decentralization and corruption: Evidence from around the world," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(1-2), pages 14-34, February.
    24. Banerjee, Abhijit & Somanathan, Rohini, 2007. "The political economy of public goods: Some evidence from India," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 82(2), pages 287-314, March.
    25. Yongzheng Liu & Jorge Martinez-Vazquez & Alfred M. Wu, 2017. "Fiscal decentralization, equalization, and intra-provincial inequality in China," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 24(2), pages 248-281, April.
    26. Alberto Alesina & Reza Baqir & William Easterly, 1999. "Public Goods and Ethnic Divisions," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 114(4), pages 1243-1284.
    27. Jan Schnellenbach, 2004. "The Evolution of a Fiscal Constitution When Individuals are Theoretically Uncertain," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 17(1), pages 97-115, January.
    28. Ghulam Rasool Madni, 2019. "Probing Institutional Quality Through Ethnic Diversity, Income Inequality and Public Spending," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 142(2), pages 581-595, April.
    29. repec:bla:obuest:v:61:y:1999:i:0:p:631-52 is not listed on IDEAS
    30. George R. Zodrow & Peter Mieszkowski, 2019. "Pigou, Tiebout, Property Taxation, and the Underprovision of Local Public Goods," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: George R Zodrow (ed.), TAXATION IN THEORY AND PRACTICE Selected Essays of George R. Zodrow, chapter 17, pages 525-542, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    31. Devereux, M.P. & Lockwood, B. & Redoano, M., 2007. "Horizontal and vertical indirect tax competition: Theory and some evidence from the USA," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(3-4), pages 451-479, April.
    32. Wilson, John D., 1986. "A theory of interregional tax competition," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(3), pages 296-315, May.
    33. Charles M. Tiebout, 1956. "A Pure Theory of Local Expenditures," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 64(5), pages 416-416.
    34. Michael Marlow, 1988. "Fiscal decentralization and government size," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 56(3), pages 259-269, March.
    35. Koenker, Roger W & Bassett, Gilbert, Jr, 1978. "Regression Quantiles," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 46(1), pages 33-50, January.
    36. Bruna, Maria Giuseppina & Đặng, Rey & Ammari, Aymen & Houanti, L'Hocine, 2021. "The effect of board gender diversity on corporate social performance: An instrumental variable quantile regression approach," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 40(C).
    37. Prud'homme, Remy, 1995. "The Dangers of Decentralization," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 10(2), pages 201-220, August.
    38. Choudhury, Atrayee & Sahu, Sohini, 2022. "Revisiting the nexus between fiscal decentralization and government size - The role of ethnic fragmentation," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    39. Weingast, Barry R., 2014. "Second Generation Fiscal Federalism: Political Aspects of Decentralization and Economic Development," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 14-25.
    40. Matthew J. Baker, 2014. "Adaptive Markov chain Monte Carlo sampling and estimation in Mata," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 14(3), pages 623-661, September.
    41. Alberto Alesina & Eliana La Ferrara, 2003. "Ethnic Diversity and Economic Performance," Harvard Institute of Economic Research Working Papers 2028, Harvard - Institute of Economic Research.
    42. Jacob L. Vigdor, 2004. "Community Composition and Collective Action: Analyzing Initial Mail Response to the 2000 Census," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 86(1), pages 303-312, February.
    43. Roger Koenker & Kevin F. Hallock, 2001. "Quantile Regression," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 15(4), pages 143-156, Fall.
    44. Ulrich Thießen, 2000. "Fiscal Federalism in Western European and Selected Other Countries: Centralization or Decentralization? What Is Better for Economic Growth?," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 224, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    45. Ozren Uzelac & Milivoje Davidovic & Marijana Dukic Mijatovic, 2020. "Legal framework, political environment and economic freedom in central and Eastern Europe: do they matter for economic growth?," Post-Communist Economies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 32(6), pages 697-725, July.
    46. Ana Carolina Garriga, 2016. "Central Bank Independence in the World: A New Data Set," International Interactions, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(5), pages 849-868, October.
    47. David Powell, 2022. "Quantile regression with nonadditive fixed effects," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 63(5), pages 2675-2691, November.
    48. Panizza, Ugo, 1999. "On the determinants of fiscal centralization: Theory and evidence," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 74(1), pages 97-139, October.
    49. Anthony Annett, 2001. "Social Fractionalization, Political Instability, and the Size of Government," IMF Staff Papers, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 48(3), pages 1-7.
    50. Nishant Chadha & Bharti Nandwani, 2018. "Ethnic fragmentation, public good provision and inequality in India, 1988–2012," Oxford Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(3), pages 363-377, July.
    51. Paolo Liberati & Agnese Sacchi, 2013. "Tax decentralization and local government size," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 157(1), pages 183-205, October.
    52. Qiao, Mo & Ding, Siying & Liu, Yongzheng, 2019. "Fiscal decentralization and government size: The role of democracy," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 316-330.
    53. Chernozhukov, Victor & Hansen, Christian, 2008. "Instrumental variable quantile regression: A robust inference approach," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 142(1), pages 379-398, January.
    54. Philip Bodman & Andrew Hodge, 2010. "What Drives Fiscal Decentralisation? Further Assessing the Role of Income," Fiscal Studies, Institute for Fiscal Studies, vol. 31(3), pages 373-404, September.
    55. G. S. Maddala & Shaowen Wu, 1999. "A Comparative Study of Unit Root Tests with Panel Data and a New Simple Test," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 61(S1), pages 631-652, November.
    56. Alesina, Alberto & Wacziarg, Romain, 1998. "Openness, country size and government," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(3), pages 305-321, September.
    57. Khwaja, Asim Ijaz, 2009. "Can good projects succeed in bad communities?," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(7-8), pages 899-916, August.
    58. Antonio Nicolás Bojanic, 2020. "The empirical evidence on the determinants of fiscal decentralization," Revista Finanzas y Politica Economica, Universidad Católica de Colombia, vol. 12(1), pages 271-302, June.
    59. Kotera, Go & Okada, Keisuke & Samreth, Sovannroeun, 2012. "Government size, democracy, and corruption: An empirical investigation," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 29(6), pages 2340-2348.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Choudhury, Atrayee & Sahu, Sohini, 2022. "Revisiting the nexus between fiscal decentralization and government size - The role of ethnic fragmentation," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    2. Qiao, Mo & Ding, Siying & Liu, Yongzheng, 2019. "Fiscal decentralization and government size: The role of democracy," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 316-330.
    3. Samuel Kwabena Obeng, 2021. "Fiscal decentralization, democracy and government size: Disentangling the complexities," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 33(6), pages 975-1004, August.
    4. Jorge Martinez-Vazquez & Santiago Lago-Peñas & Agnese Sacchi, 2017. "The Impact Of Fiscal Decentralization: A Survey," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(4), pages 1095-1129, September.
    5. Francisco J. Delgado, 2021. "On the Determinants of Fiscal Decentralization: Evidence From the EU," The AMFITEATRU ECONOMIC journal, Academy of Economic Studies - Bucharest, Romania, vol. 23(56), pages 206-206, February.
    6. Silvia GOLEM & Lena MALEŠEVIC PEROVIC, 2014. "An Empirical Analysis of the Relationship between Fiscal Decentralization and the Size of Government," Czech Journal of Economics and Finance (Finance a uver), Charles University Prague, Faculty of Social Sciences, vol. 64(1), pages 30-58, February.
    7. Qurat ul Ain & Tahir Yousaf & Yan Jie & Yasmeen Akhtar, 2020. "The Impact of Devolution on Government Size and Provision of Social Services: Evi¬dence from Pakistan," Hacienda Pública Española / Review of Public Economics, IEF, vol. 234(3), pages 105-135, September.
    8. Reingewertz, Yaniv, 2014. "Fiscal Decentralization - a Survey of the Empirical Literature," MPRA Paper 59889, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Suzana Makreshanska-Mladenovska & Goran Petrevski, 2019. "Fiscal Decentralisation and Government Size: Evidence from a Panel of European Countries," Hacienda Pública Española / Review of Public Economics, IEF, vol. 229(2), pages 33-58, June.
    10. Aristovnik, Aleksander, 2012. "Fiscal decentralization in Eastern Europe: a twenty-year perspective," MPRA Paper 39316, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    11. John Ashworth & Emma Galli & Fabio Padovano, 2013. "Decentralization as a constraint to Leviathan: a panel cointegration analysis," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 156(3), pages 491-516, September.
    12. Lars Feld, 2014. "James Buchanan’s theory of federalism: from fiscal equity to the ideal political order," Constitutional Political Economy, Springer, vol. 25(3), pages 231-252, September.
    13. David Cantarero & Patricio Perez, 2012. "Decentralization and regional government size in Spain," Portuguese Economic Journal, Springer;Instituto Superior de Economia e Gestao, vol. 11(3), pages 211-237, December.
    14. Furceri, Davide & Sacchi, Agnese & Salotti, Simone, 2014. "Can fiscal decentralization alleviate government consumption volatility?," MPRA Paper 54513, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    15. Niklas Potrafke, 2006. "Political Effects on the Allocation of Public Expenditures: Empirical Evidence from OECD Countries," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 653, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    16. Manuel E. Lago & Santiago Lago-Peñas & Jorge Martinez-Vazquez, 2024. "On the effects of intergovernmental grants: a survey," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 31(3), pages 856-908, June.
    17. Akalbeo, Benard & Martinez-Vazquez, Jorge & Yedgenov, Bauyrzhan, 2023. "Fiscal decentralization and structural versus cyclical unemployment levels," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    18. Agnese Sacchi & Simone Salotti, 2017. "The influence of decentralized taxes and intergovernmental grants on local spending volatility," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 51(4), pages 507-522, April.
    19. Jia, Junxue & Guo, Qingwang & Zhang, Jing, 2014. "Fiscal decentralization and local expenditure policy in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 28(C), pages 107-122.
    20. Matthew Wilson, 2021. "Government market power and public goods provision in a federation," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 28(1), pages 68-89, February.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Fiscal decentralization; Government size; Panel quantile regression;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H72 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - State and Local Budget and Expenditures
    • H11 - Public Economics - - Structure and Scope of Government - - - Structure and Scope of Government
    • H41 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods - - - Public Goods

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:ecmode:v:125:y:2023:i:c:s0264999323001591. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/30411 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.