Local Government Decentralization Research Articles

How does technological innovation affect the fiscal decentralization of local governments? Evidence from China

Technological innovation is a pivotal driver of high-quality economic development, and China's distinctive fiscal decentralization model stands out as a crucial institutional factor behind the country's economic growth miracle. Despite its significant academic and practical implications, there is a noticeable scarcity of literature on examining government fiscal decentralization through the lens of technological innovation. This paper addresses fundamental research questions regarding the relationship between technological innovation and fiscal decentralization. Leveraging balanced panel data from 30 provinces in China spanning 2005 to 2020, our findings indicate that technological innovation positively impacts the fiscal decentralization of local governments. Specifically, for each standard deviation increase in technological innovation, there is a corresponding 0.1508 standard deviation in fiscal decentralization. The mechanism driving this relationship lies in technological innovation's ability to enhance enterprise profit levels, increasing tax and non-tax revenues for local governments. Importantly, when non-tax revenue at the central government level surpasses tax revenue, the resulting augmentation in local government revenue contributes to an elevated level of fiscal decentralization. In conclusion, this paper offers valuable insights into the government's endeavors to promote scientific and technological innovation while enhancing local fiscal decentralization. These insights contribute to an improved quality of economic development.

Decentralization of Local Government with Central Government Pressure : A Study of Sylhet City Corporation

Decentralization of Local Government with Central Government Pressure : A Study of Sylhet City Corporation

How does FinTech affect the development of the digital economy? Evidence from China

Financial Technology (FinTech) is key to the global ascendency of China's finance, and the digital economy is a new driving force in the sustainable development and high-quality growth of China's economy. So, what is the nature of the relationship between FinTech and the digital economy. Based on the CRITIC method, this study calculates the China's 31 provinces’ (excluding Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan) FinTech indices from 2008 to 2018 and the digital economy development indices from 2012 to 2018, and analyzes the impact of FinTech on the digital economy and its underlying mechanism. The results show that FinTech stimulates the development of the digital economy in China by promoting technological innovation and weakening the financial decentralization of local governments. Further research indicates that local financial regulatory resources have a positive moderating effect on the impact of FinTech in promoting the development of the digital economy. Increased local financial regulatory resources will enable FinTech to promote the development of the digital economy, but this regulatory role is only significant in financially developed areas. The approach of the study is relatively novel.

Local government in Ghana: Exploring the factors that predict public attitudes towards local government elections in Ghana

ABSTRACT Local government decentralization, as a policy option, has been on the political and developmental agenda of Ghana since 1957. At the heart of Ghana’s local government and decentralization policies are Metropolitan, Municipal, and District Assemblies (MMDAs) and Chief Executives (MMDCEs), currently appointed by the President. Since MMDCEs are appointed by the president, there are arguments about whether their allegiance lies with the president or their local constituents. In recent years, citizens’ demand for local government elections is commonplace in Ghana. The present study explores the factors that influence public support for local government elections in Ghana, specifically the election of MMDCEs. Analyzing national representative data (n = 2400), obtained from the Afrobarometer Round 7 survey about Ghana, several important revelations were made. The analysis revealed that the majority of respondents (73%) support local government elections in Ghana. Additionally, political party affiliation, rural-urban residency, region, and problems facing Ghana are strong predictors. Overall, the present study provides partial support for path dependency theory and the sequential theory of decentralization.

Does mixed-ownership reform restrain stock price synchronicity? Evidence from China

We examine the relation between the mixed-ownership reform and the degree of stock price synchronicity by using a sample of 1211 listed State Owned Enterprise (SOE) for the period of 2003–2018 in China. Through empirical assessment, we reveal robust evidence that the higher intensity of the mixed-ownership, the lower degree of SOE stock price synchronicity. Based on path analysis, we verified the negative correlation between the mixed-ownership intensity and the stock price synchronicity via two paths, namely information transparency and analyst coverage augmentation. Our additional analysis established that the negative association between the mixed-ownership intensity and stock price synchronicity is strongly influenced by the decentralization of local governments. Specifically, the stronger degree of decentralized regional governments, the more significant their negative effect.

Development of Corporate Social Responsibility in Business as a Factor of Fiscal Decentralization

The study aimed to substantiate the nature of the influence and sustainability of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on the effectiveness of the fiscal decentralization of local government in Ukraine. The estimates of CSR indicators for 490 enterprises were obtained using the questionnaire results. Determined the structure of directions for implementing a socially-oriented approach in Ukrainian business. Functions of dependence of indicators of the effectiveness of financial decentralization of local authorities on CSR development were constructed using linear regression methods and considering the time lag. We have identified a stimulating but not sustainable impact of business CSR on increasing the financial base of local budgets in decentralization. The time lag hurts the growth of the company's tax payments due to the growth of CSR level. The results obtained can be used to form efficiency strategies of local government to initiate CSR development in businesses.

Performance of Decentralized Local Service Delivery in Developed Countries: Case Study of Japan

Many countries decentralize the administrative, fiscal, and political functions of the central government to lower-level governments. In many developing and developed countries, governments and their policymakers have used decentralization as a means of improving the delivery of local service. Accordingly, this study is based on the delivery of local services to the people by the local governments of Japan as a developed country. The overall objective of this article is to review the performance of decentralized local service delivery in developed countries and based on a case study of Japan. The study also aims to examine the correlation between the revenue and expenditure of local governments of Japan and its trends. Basically, this article has been written based on secondary data materials. This data consists of qualitative and quantitative characteristics. Hence, a qualitative and quantitative descriptive method has been applied to analyse the performance of local government decentralization in Japan, and descriptive statistical methods are used to analyse the data and the correlation between revenue and expenditure. The problem in this research is how the functional political institutions created for local service delivery at the sub-national governments in Japan affects the success of decentralization. This research revealed several findings. The local governments of Japan have a sound institutional system and several powers recognized by the constitution. Japanese local governments monitor over 70% of national works, but a majority of the standard public services are the responsibility of local governments. Karl Pearson’s correlation value of revenue and expenditure is 0.979, and there is a strong positive relationship between revenues and expenditure. In Japan, the highest value of local government spending is on public welfare. It is followed by education, civil engineering works, and general administration, second, third, and fourth, respectively. Also, its central and local administrative institutions are maintained in a mutually dependent and mutually complementary relationship. Most of the local governments are collaborating with the private sector in Japan. As a result, the efficiency of service delivery has improved at the local level. In this way, waste management, which is a major local problem in Japan, is being dealt with closely by the central government and the local governments.

ORGANIZATIONAL AND MANAGEMENT WORK OF SCIENTISTTEACHER P SHEVCHENKO

The importance of taking into account the positive achievements of domestic pedagogy for the development of modern education, especially in the context of intensification of the process of decentralization of local government. The purpose of the article was to highlight the pedagogical experience of P I Shevchenko, former rector of Kryvyi Rih State Pedagogical University, as head of the city (Kryvyi Rih) Department of Public Education from August 1965 to October 1979, to study the longevity of previous management ideas and theories as a methodological guide for modern education managers. Leading research methods: analysis and generalization of archival material, problem and retrospective analysis. The study of documentary sources of the Dnieper Regional State Archive (Kryvyi Rih City Executive Committee Department), which contains material from P I Shevchenko’s reports at city meetings of Kryvyi Rih school principals, identified a range of issues that were of priority importance in the organizational and managerial work of the scientist-teacher. It was revealed that during his work P. Shevchenko solved the issues of development of educational infrastructure of the whole city and adjacent districts, ensuring sustainable functioning of schools, preschool, out-of-school, vocational educational institutions of the city and adjacent districts.Within his official powers, P. Shevchenko also took care of preschool institutions, demanded to pay attention to the caloric content and variety of baby food, compliance with sanitary and hygienic norms in the institution, timely repairs in kindergartens, improvement of playgrounds and more. The regional peculiarities of the city, which were characterized by the rapid development of metallurgical production, required systematic career guidance work, to which, first of all, the lessons of labor training were directed. The articulation of these issues before the educators of the city was leading in the activities of P. Shevchenko in the late 70’s of the twentieth century.The appeal to the documents that left the imprint of P. Shevchenko’s organizational and managerial work as the head of the city department of public education proves the consistent implementation in his managerial activity of the idea of combining study and work, the idea that is now called dual education. In his work, P. Shevchenko was guided by the then decisions of party institutions, but the priority in his work was a personal interest in solving the problems of that time, which was manifested in his ability to form strategic goals and determine the algorithm of priority actions for their implementation. It is proved that P. Shevchenko’s activity was concentrated around the problems of the educational branch of the city, pedagogical collectives, apprentices, which were considered as a guarantee of successful social and economic development of the state.

Evolutionary Game Analysis of Engineering Construction Innovation and Local Government Environmental Regulation Strategy

Recent years, with the development of China, an incessant springing up of major engineering projects. Based on the characteristics of the decentralization of local governments in China, whether there are local governments competing to set up major engineering projects at the expense of the environment in order to maintain local economic development. From the perspective of evolutionary game, this paper constructs a game model between engineering construction innovation and local government under the influence of local government’s choice of different environmental regulations. Through the dynamic replication equation, the behavior selection path and evolution strategy of local government and engineering construction firms are obtained. The research results show that the strict environmental regulation of local governments and the technological innovation of engineering construction firms can achieve stability at the same time, and the conditions are effective government investment by local governments.

Green Tax Policy, Environmental Decentralization and Energy Consumption: Evidence from China

China’s huge energy consumption has caused a series of environmental problems, and taxation is an effective way of regulating energy use. Green tax policy can be divided into narrow sense and broad sense according to its circumscription. Studying the impact of different ranges of green taxation policies on energy consumption is of great significance for improving taxation policies to reduce energy consumption. Based on the government’s responsibility for policy implementation and supervision, it is necessary to introduce local government environmental decentralization to explore the role of government actions in it. Taking the panel data of 30 provinces (cities, districts) in China from 2007 to 2016 as the research sample, using the system GMM model, empirically analyze the impact of broad and narrow green taxation and government environmental decentralization on energy consumption and energy efficiency, the results shows: 1) The narrow green tax policy can significantly reduce energy consumption and promote energy efficiency. 2) Broad green taxation policy can significantly increase energy consumption and reduce energy efficiency. 3) Whether under the broad or narrow green taxation policy, the increase in environmental decentralization of local governments will significantly reduce the amount of energy consumption and improve energy efficiency.

THE PROBLEM OF THE POLITICAL AND FISCAL DECENTRALIZATION OF THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT IN 2012-2019

The article contains a concept about Political and fiscal decentralization problem in Georgia during “2012-2019” For each democratic state strong local government and its political and fiscal decentralization is a fundamental principle of democracy. A local government is a form of public administration which, in a majority of contexts, exists as the lowest tier of administration within a given state. It contains political, fiscal and administration decentralization which means to transfer power from central government to municipality. In the way of Democracy and European integration as a still democracy development county, Local Government development and its Political and fiscal decentralization is an important and key issues for Georgia. Aim of the Article: To analyze the process and the problem of Political and Fiscal decentralization of Local Government in Georgia during 2012-2019. What type of problem we have and what is the main problem for Political and Fiscal decentralization of Local Government in Georgia. Despite all of reforms from independence to nowadays, political and fiscal decentralization of local Government is a problem for all governments in Georgia. The main reason for all of them was political control under the Local governments. After 2012, the hope that the new Government can implement real political da fiscal decentralization of local government was big. But reality is different. Despite two reforms of Local Government during 2012-2019, until now the problem of political and fiscal decentralization in Georgia is the same: no formal control of Local Governments, Most of Financial resources still have central Government, Local Governmnts have no possibility to implement their power independently, they have no own property and sufficient financial resources. In this article we give a recommendations how to improve political and fiscal decentralization aspects in Geogria and what the main problem is.

Досвід українців східної галичини у побудові системи місцевого самоврядування (кінець ХІХ – початок ХХ ст.)

Висвітлено складні події кінця ХІХ – початку ХХ ст., які відбувалися на теренах Східної Галичини. Йдеться про процеси, що стосуються історичного досвіду українців у побудові системи місцевого самоврядування, формування Галицького Крайового Сейму, міських, сільських органів виконавчої влади, про вічовий рух за загальне виборче право як важливий етап боротьби за становлення структур громадянського суспільства. Проаналізовано перспективи українського державoтвoрення початку ХХ ст., які переконливо вказують на наявність і готовність українства власними силами будувати кооперацію, банківську та кредитну справу, а також необхідні управлінські структури, які наприкінці ХІХ – початку ХХ ст. вражали бажанням змін і давали приклад українцям по інший бік Дніпра.

Стимулювання соціально-економічного розвитку регіонів України на засадах фінансової децентралізації

Relevance. In modern conditions of integration with the EU countries, the regulatory framework of the socio-economic development of the regions of Ukraine is supplemented from the standpoint of decentralization of local authorities in accordance with European requirements for reforming the domestic economy. The main reasons for improving regional management, taking into account the experience of developed countries of the world, are: unsatisfactory level of financial support for the regions of Ukraine; improper delineation of administrative-territorial powers; unproductive distribution and redistribution of income and expenses between the state and regions; imperfect management of the processes of formation and use of financial resources at the local level. All this makes the balanced development of both the regions of Ukraine and territorial communities, the main subject of socio-economic progress of a certain territory, virtually impossible.Goal and tasks. Identification of challenges and threats to stimulate the socio-economic development of regions on the basis of financial decentralization.Results. The article presents the results of a theoretical and practical study of the process of stimulating the socio-economic development of the regions of Ukraine based on financial decentralization. The most significant problems of socio-economic development of Ukraine are identified. The role of state regional policy in solving these problems is revealed. The role of decentralization as a factor in regional development is substantiated. The essence of the concept of "decentralization" and its types is revealed, its mission is indicated. The results of observations of the processes of financial decentralization of local governments and territorial communities are presented. Positive changes and threats were identified regarding the stimulation of the socio-economic development of the regions based on financial decentralization.Findings. The financial decentralization of power has created new opportunities for the development of territories through new approaches to financing and managing the areas of community life (education and health), increasing the sources of local budgets, expanding the managerial powers of local governments and opportunities for publicprivate and inter-municipal partnerships, increasing the volume of supporting the implementation of projects of socio-economic and infrastructural development of territories. However, the issues of relations between such levels as the territorial community – district – region – state; financing of territorial development programs. The issue of economic self-sufficiency of territorial communities is not considered, which could, provided the rational use of the resource base, strengthen it and improve the financial situation. Consequently, the development of a territorial community at the local level is possible only if the correct state policy and the policy of local authorities based on financial decentralization are formed.

An Empirical Study on the Needs for Decentralization of Local Governments: Focusing on Policy Tasks Presented by the Governors Association of Korea

An Empirical Study on the Needs for Decentralization of Local Governments: Focusing on Policy Tasks Presented by the Governors Association of Korea

Problems of Fiscal Equalization and Decentralization of Local Governments in Azerbaijan

This paper proposes reforms to improve the fiscal the capacity of the municipalities, including amendments of the taxing principle, tax base, and tax collection, as well as modernization of a government subsidy allocation mechanism. The last entails consideration of expenditure needs and the poverty level of the municipalities.

The budget of the community in the system of interbudgetary relations

The paper investigates a new approaches to the formation of the budget of the territorial community, which is based on decentralization of local governments; methodological approaches to the monitoring of the planning process and execution of revenues and expenditures of the local community; methodological approaches to the planning of the budget of the community; the approaches for developing a balanced budget for the community; improved approaches to perspective in the forecasting of the revenues of the community

Decentralization of local government in Ukraine as a problem of political science: theoretical characteristics of the study, normative-legal basis and influence of other countries experience

The article deals with the theoretical, methodological and normative principles of the formation of local politics in Ukraine. Conceptual approaches to the definition of the essence of concepts and evolution of local government are revealed. Particular attention is paid to the development of normative and legal sources in the field of local government. The process of decentralization of power as the main factor of changes in the system of local government bodies of Ukraine is determined. It is established that Ukraine has European experience and experience of other countries in the decentralization of the public power due to the processes of reforming and regulatory legal regulation of the system of local government in different EU states. It has been proved that an important key to the success of the decentralization reform in Ukraine is the existing base and the creation of new doctrinal developments.

Decentralization and the Increased Autonomy in Local Governments

In the context of processes of change that is included the Albanian state, the local governments plays an important role. Membership in various international bodies has given a special priority to this government. In the centre of this paper is the analysis of fiscal decentralization of local government, specifically addressing the priorities, competences and responsibilities assigned to this government during this complex process. Local government is regarded as government closer to citizens, and for this the increasing of its competence, financial resources and an active community participation in decision making, will increase the responsibilities of power. This treatment is based on the legal framework of local government, taking a look at its changes over the years, analyzing and decentralization strategy. The article offers concrete conclusions based on the performance of this multilateral process and its implementation in local units of state.

Institutional complexity and unanticipated consequences: the failure of decentralization in South Africa

The following article holds that the experiment with local government decentralization in South Africa has failed. We argue that South Africa's local government is overburdened with constitutional and legal requirements that it is not equipped to meet. Local government, in general, lacks the technical and administrative capacity to provide the services it is required to supply. Based on a sample of 37 municipalities, we argue that the system of decentralization is far too complex for under-capacitated municipalities to handle. As a result, large-scale non-performance both in terms of service delivery as well as a democratic deficit characterizes local government. These failures contributed to the emergence of widespread “service delivery” protests throughout the country.

THE IMPACT OF LOCAL DECENTRALIZATION ON ECONOMIC GROWTH: EVIDENCE FROM U.S. COUNTIES*

ABSTRACT We analyze the impact of fiscal decentralization on U.S. county population, employment, and real income growth. Our findings suggest that government organization matters for local economic growth, but that the impacts vary by government unit and by economic indicator. We find that single-purpose governments per square mile have a positive impact on metropolitan population and employment growth, but no significant impact on nonmetropolitan counties. In contrast, the fragmentation of general-purpose governments per capita has a negative impact on employment and population growth in nonmetropolitan counties. Our results suggest that local government decentralization matters differently for metropolitan and nonmetropolitan counties.