IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/prs/rvofce/ofce_0751-6614_1984_num_6_1_971.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Finances publiques décentralisées en temps d'austérité : l'exemple des États- Unis

Author

Listed:
  • Jacques Le Cacheux

Abstract

[eng] Some important aspects of the current French decentralization are enlightened by the recent changes in US public finance. Proceeding from very different premises, the « New Federalism » and the French decentralization share in common a context of general economic slowdown and fiscal tightness. The problems that arise and their solutions are therefore often similar, in spite of conspicuous differences in the institutional frameworks. Such similarities are in broad agreement with the economic theory of decentralized governments. The case-study of the US local public finance clearly reveals the effects of the recession. After several decades of continuing growth in local budgets, the 1981-1982 recession, closely following the « Tax Revolt » movement, caused a reversal in these trends. Both the increase in needs and the decline in revenues have been aggravated by the transfer of competences and finan- cial responsabilities from the federal government to the states. An increase in state and local taxes could not be avoided. And, in so far as some existing public services are given a high priority, other outlays had to be reduced : thus public employment shrank and public investment sharply declined. [fre] Les évolutions récentes des finances publiques américaines éclairent certains aspects essentiels de la décentralisation qui s'amorce en France. S'il est vrai que les philosophies qui les inspirent sont profondément différentes, ces mouvements de décentralisation se produisent dans des contextes comparables de ralentissement de l'activité économique et de rigueur budgétaire. En dépit de différences institutionnelles indéniables, les problèmes et les solutions sont donc souvent très semblables, comme le suggère la théorie économique du fédéralisme. L'exemple des États-Unis met en évidence les effets de la récession sur les finances locales. Après plusieurs décennies de croissance rapide des budgets, la récession de 1981-1982, suivant de près la « révolte fiscale », a causé un renversement des tendances. L'accroissement des besoins et la baisse des recettes ont été accentués par les transferts de compétences et de charges de l'État Fédéral, conduisant inévitablement à une augmentation de la fiscalité locale et, pour maintenir les services publics prioritaires, au sacrifice d'autres dépenses : ainsi, l'emploi et plus encore l'investissement publics ont-ils été fortement réduits.

Suggested Citation

  • Jacques Le Cacheux, 1984. "Finances publiques décentralisées en temps d'austérité : l'exemple des États- Unis," Revue de l'OFCE, Programme National Persée, vol. 6(1), pages 109-124.
    • Handle: RePEc:prs:rvofce:ofce_0751-6614_1984_num_6_1_971
    DOI: 10.3406/ofce.1984.971
    Note: DOI:10.3406/ofce.1984.971
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.3406/ofce.1984.971
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.persee.fr/doc/ofce_0751-6614_1984_num_6_1_971
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.3406/ofce.1984.971?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
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Olson, Mancur, Jr, 1969. "The Principle of "Fiscal Equivalence": The Division of Responsibilities among Different Levels of Government," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 59(2), pages 479-487, May.
    2. Buchanan, James M. & Goetz, Charles J., 1972. "Efficiency limits of fiscal mobility: An assessment of the tiebout model," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 1(1), pages 25-43, April.
    3. Charles M. Tiebout, 1956. "A Pure Theory of Local Expenditures," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 64(5), pages 416-416.
    4. Patrice Mantz & Michel Ungemuth, 1981. "Les collectivités locales face à l'environnement économique," Économie et Statistique, Programme National Persée, vol. 132(1), pages 49-68.
    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. Trent J. MacDonald, 2019. "The Political Economy of Non-Territorial Exit," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 18871.
    2. Sandler, Todd & Tschirhart, John T, 1980. "The Economic Theory of Clubs: An Evaluative Survey," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 18(4), pages 1481-1521, December.
    3. ., 2019. "Economic theory of non-territorial unbundling," Chapters, in: The Political Economy of Non-Territorial Exit, chapter 1, pages 14-38, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    4. Chin Lim, 2003. "Public Good Contributions Between Communities," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 5(3), pages 541-548, July.
    5. John D. Donahue, 1997. "Tiebout? Or Not Tiebout? The Market Metaphor and America's Devolution Debate," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 11(4), pages 73-81, Fall.
    6. Stephen Billings & Thomas Thibodeau, 2011. "Intrametropolitan Decentralization: Is Government Structure Capitalized in Residential Property Values?," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 42(4), pages 416-450, May.
    7. Jean-Marc Bourgeon & Marie-Laure Breuillé, 2023. "Citizen preferences and the architecture of government," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 61(3), pages 537-585, October.
    8. Melle Marco C., 2014. "Eine europäische Bemessungsgrundlage für die Körperschaftsteuer? Konzeption und ordnungsökonomische Analyse / Conceptual design and constitutional economics analysis of a European tax base for corpora," ORDO. Jahrbuch für die Ordnung von Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft, De Gruyter, vol. 65(1), pages 133-156, January.
    9. Albouy, David & Behrens, Kristian & Robert-Nicoud, Frédéric & Seegert, Nathan, 2019. "The optimal distribution of population across cities," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 102-113.
    10. Alan P. Hamlin, 1991. "Decentralization, Competition and the Efficiency of Federalism," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 67(3), pages 193-204, September.
    11. Sergii Slukhai, 2009. "Inter-Location Small Business Tax Rate Variation in Ukraine: What Is Behind It?," Financial Theory and Practice, Institute of Public Finance, vol. 33(1), pages 49-71.
    12. Samuel Adams & Kingsley Agomor, 2020. "Decentralization, Partisan Politics, and National Development in Ghana," Public Organization Review, Springer, vol. 20(2), pages 351-366, June.
    13. Huberto M. Ennis & Santiago M. Pinto & Alberto Porto, 2006. "Choosing a place to live and a workplace," Económica, Instituto de Investigaciones Económicas, Facultad de Ciencias Económicas, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, vol. 0(1-2), pages 15-51, January-D.
    14. Bruno S. Frey & Alois Stutzer, "undated". "The Role of Direct Democracy and Federalism in Local Power," IEW - Working Papers 209, Institute for Empirical Research in Economics - University of Zurich.
    15. Miriam Hortas-Rico & Vicente Rios, 2020. "Is there an optimal size for local governments? A spatial panel data model approach," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 54(7), pages 958-973, July.
    16. Marcus Berliant & John H. Y. Edwards, 2004. "Efficient Allocations in Club Economies," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 6(1), pages 43-63, February.
    17. Bruno S. Frey & Alois Stutzer, "undated". "Direct Democracy: Designing a Living Constitution," IEW - Working Papers 167, Institute for Empirical Research in Economics - University of Zurich.
    18. François Bareille & Matteo Zavalloni, 2020. "Decentralisation of agri-environmental policy design," European Review of Agricultural Economics, Oxford University Press and the European Agricultural and Applied Economics Publications Foundation, vol. 47(4), pages 1502-1530.
    19. Frey, Bruno S. & Eichenberger, Reiner, 1996. "FOCJ: Competitive governments for Europe," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(3), pages 315-327, September.
    20. Feld, Lars P. & Frey, Christian & Schaltegger, Christoph A. & Schmid, Lukas A., 2021. "Fiscal federalism and income inequality: An empirical analysis for Switzerland," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 185(C), pages 463-494.

    More about this item

    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:prs:rvofce:ofce_0751-6614_1984_num_6_1_971. 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: Equipe PERSEE (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.persee.fr/collection/ofce .

    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.