IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/oec/ctpaab/08-en.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The spending power of sub-central governments: A pilot study

Author

Listed:
  • Steffen Bach

    (OECD)

  • Hansjörg Blöchliger

    (OECD)

  • Dominik Wallau

    (OECD)

Abstract

This pilot study presents indicators that assess sub-central government (SCG) spending power by policy area. Traditional indicators – such as the share of SCG in total government spending – are often misleading as they underestimate the impact of central government regulation on sub-central spending patterns. In order to gauge true spending power, a set of institutional indicators is established, based on a detailed assessment of institutional, regulatory and administrative control central government exerts over various SCG policy areas. Results tend to confirm the limited discretion of SCGs over their own budget. Education in particular – the main SCG budget item in most countries – is strongly shaped by central government regulation. Federal countries tend to grant more spending power to SCGs than unitary countries.

Suggested Citation

  • Steffen Bach & Hansjörg Blöchliger & Dominik Wallau, 2018. "The spending power of sub-central governments: A pilot study," OECD Working Papers on Fiscal Federalism 08, OECD Publishing.
    • Handle: RePEc:oec:ctpaab:08-en
    DOI: 10.1787/11ef2bee-en
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1787/11ef2bee-en
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1787/11ef2bee-en?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
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Mr. Luc Eyraud & Ms. Lusine Lusinyan, 2011. "Decentralizing Spending More Than Revenue: Does it Hurt Fiscal Performance?," IMF Working Papers 2011/226, International Monetary Fund.
    2. Kopańska Agnieszka, 2018. "Partial Fiscal Decentralization and Local Government Spending Policy," Financial Internet Quarterly (formerly e-Finanse), Sciendo, vol. 14(3), pages 21-31, September.
    3. Demet Pekşen Süslü, 2021. "Examining Cyber Bullying and Cyber Victimization in High School Students," European Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies Articles, Revistia Research and Publishing, vol. 2, September.
    4. Agnieszka Kopańska, 2016. "Partial decentralization and its influence on local governments’ spending policy. An analysis of spending for teachers and other resources needed for schools," Working Papers 2016-38, Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw.
    5. Mr. Luc Eyraud & Ms. Marialuz Moreno Badia, 2013. "Too Small to Fail? Subnational Spending Pressures in Europe," IMF Working Papers 2013/046, International Monetary Fund.
    6. Christine Fauvelle-Aymar, 2014. "The welfare state, migration, and voting rights," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 159(1), pages 105-120, April.
    7. Bernard F. Couttolenc, 2012. "Decentralization and Governance in the Ghana Health Sector," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 9376.
    8. Michael Klien & Hans Pitlik & Matthias Firgo & Ulrike Famira-Mühlberger, 2020. "Ein Modell für einen strukturierten vertikalen Finanzausgleich in Österreich," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 65854.
    9. Ms. Izabela Karpowicz, 2012. "Narrowing Vertical Fiscal Imbalances in Four European Countries," IMF Working Papers 2012/091, International Monetary Fund.
    10. Dubravka Jurlina Alibegovic, 2014. "Fiscal Autonomy ? Opportunity or Limitation for Innovative Local Development in Croatia?," ERSA conference papers ersa14p945, European Regional Science Association.
    11. Mbanda, Vandudzai & Bonga-Bonga, Lumengo, 2019. "Municipal infrastructure spending capacity in South Africa: a panel smooth transition regression (PSTR) approach," MPRA Paper 91499, University Library of Munich, Germany.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    fiscal discipline; fiscal rules; indicators; Sub-central government;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C43 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods: Special Topics - - - Index Numbers and Aggregation
    • D78 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Positive Analysis of Policy Formulation and Implementation
    • H71 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - State and Local Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue
    • H72 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - State and Local Budget and Expenditures
    • H74 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - State and Local Borrowing
    • H81 - Public Economics - - Miscellaneous Issues - - - Governmental Loans; Loan Guarantees; Credits; Grants; Bailouts

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:oec:ctpaab:08-en. 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.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using 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: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ctoecfr.html .

    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.