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Redistributing income under fiscal vertical imbalance

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  • Bouton, Laurent
  • Gassner, Marjorie
  • Verardi, Vincenzo

Abstract

From the literature on decentralization, it appears that the fiscal vertical imbalance (i.e. the dependence of sub-national governments on national government revenues to support their expenditures) is somehow inherent to multi-level governments. Using a stylized model we show that this leads to a reduction of the extent of redistributive fiscal policies if the maximal size of government has been reached. To test for this empirically, we use some high quality data from the LIS dataset on individual incomes. The results are highly significant and point in the direction of our theoretical predictions.

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  • Bouton, Laurent & Gassner, Marjorie & Verardi, Vincenzo, 2008. "Redistributing income under fiscal vertical imbalance," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 24(2), pages 317-328, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:poleco:v:24:y:2008:i:2:p:317-328
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    2. Jia, Junxue & Liu, Yongzheng & Martinez-Vazquez, Jorge & Zhang, Kewei, 2021. "Vertical fiscal imbalance and local fiscal indiscipline: Empirical evidence from China," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    3. Jiang, Wei & Li, Xitao & Liu, Ruoxi & Song, Yijia, 2022. "Local fiscal pressure, policy distortion and energy efficiency: Micro-evidence from a quasi-natural experiment in China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 254(PB).
    4. Neyapti, Bilin, 2013. "Fiscal decentralization, fiscal rules and fiscal discipline," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 121(3), pages 528-532.
    5. Rosella Levaggi & Francesco Menoncin, 2014. "Health care expenditure decisions in the presence of devolution and equalisation grants," International Journal of Health Economics and Management, Springer, vol. 14(4), pages 355-368, December.
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    7. Zhou, Shiyu & Luo, Weijie, 2024. "Pollution consequences of vertical fiscal imbalance: Evidence from China," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 85-97.
    8. Neyapti, Bilin, 2010. "Fiscal decentralization and deficits: International evidence," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 26(2), pages 155-166, June.
    9. Lin, Boqiang & Zhou, Yicheng, 2021. "Does fiscal decentralization improve energy and environmental performance? New perspective on vertical fiscal imbalance," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 302(C).
    10. Simin Zhang & Zhikai Wang, 2023. "Effects of Vertical Fiscal Imbalance on Fiscal Health Expenditure Efficiency—Evidence from China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(3), pages 1-22, January.
    11. Liangliang Liu & Wenqing Zhang, 2022. "Vertical fiscal imbalance and government spending on science and technology in China," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 55(3), pages 1953-1971, August.

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