Is Decentralization Good For Development?: Perspectives from Academics and Policy Makers

Is decentralisation good for development? This book offers insights and lessons that help us understand when the answer is 'Yes', and when it is No'. It shows us how decentralisation can be designed to drive development forward, and focuses attention on how institutional incentives can be created for governments to improve public sector performance and strengthen economies in ways that enhance citizen well-being. It also draws attention to the political motives behind decentralisation reforms and how these shape the institutions that result. This book brings together academics working at the frontier of research on decentralization with policymakers who have implemented reform at the highest levels of government and international organizations. Its purpose is to marry policymakers' detailed knowledge and insights about real reform processes with academics' conceptual clarity and analytical rigor. This synthesis naturally shifts the analysis towards deeper questions of decentralization, stability, and the strength of the state. These are explored in Part 1, with deep studies of the effects of reform on state capacity, political and fiscal stability, and democratic inclusiveness in Bolivia, Pakistan, India, and Latin America more broadly. These complex questions - crucially important to policymakers but difficult to address with statistics - yield before a multipronged attack of quantitative and qualitative evidence combined with deep practitioner insight. How should reformers design decentralisation? Part 2 examines these issues with evidence from four decades of reform in developing and developed countries. What happens after reform is implemented? Decentralization and local service provision turns to decentralization's effects on health and education services, anti-poverty programs with original evidence from 12 countries across Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Contributors to this volume - Mani Shankar Aiyar, Government of India Pranab Bardhan, University of California, Berkeley Thomas J. Bossert, Harvard School of Public Health Giorgio Brosio, University of Turin Joseph J. Capuno, University of the Philippines Ali Cheema, Lahore University of Management Sciences Vigile Marie B. Fabella, University of the Philippines Jean-Paul Faguet, London School of Economics Ashley M. Fox, Harvard University Matteo Grazzi, Inter-American Development Bank Fidel Jaramillo, Inter-American Development Bank Juan Pablo Jimenez, ECLA Adnan Q. Khan, London School of Economics Stuti Khemani, World Bank Aleli D. Kraft, University of the Philippines Bingqin Li, London School of Economics Sandip Mitra, Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata Dilip Mookherjee, Boston University Roger Myerson, University of Chicago Caroline Poschl, London School of Economics Stella A. Quimbo, University of the Philippines Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada, ex-President of Bolivia Abhirup Sarkar, Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata Carlos Antonio R. Tan, Jr., University of the Philippines Barry R. Weingast, Stanford University Yongmei Zhang, Lanzhou University