Fiscal and Political Decentralization and Government Quality

In this paper we apply both cross-section and panel analysis to the relationship between fiscal and political decentralization and government quality. We find that fiscal decentralization has a positive impact. Moreover, political decentralization tends to reduce the positive impact of fiscal decentralization on the quality of government. This negative impact of political decentralization on government quality persists when controlling for the degree of democratic maturity of countries but disappears when controlling for the extent of experience with statehood or public administration. This suggests that it is more affordable, in terms of government quality, to combine fiscal and political decentralization in countries with a long history of statehood.Quality of government, fiscal decentralization, political decentralization, democratic maturity, cross-section and panel data