Measuring Fiscal Decentralization: Exploring the IMF’s Databases

June 1, 2011

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Measuring Fiscal Decentralization: Exploring the IMF’s Databases, (USA: International Monetary Fund, 2011) accessed December 22, 2024

Disclaimer: This Working Paper should not be reported as representing the views of the IMF.The views expressed in this Working Paper are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent those of the IMF or IMF policy. Working Papers describe research in progress by the author(s) and are published to elicit comments and to further debate

Summary

Conventional wisdom postulates that there are benefits from decentralizing government finances but there is little empirical evidence about actual country practices. This paper presents data on fiscal decentralization for about 80 countries over a period of about 20 years (1990-2008) from the IMF’s Government Finance Statistics Yearbook (GFSY), the only global database with fiscal data for several levels of government. The data show that in many countries, revenue collection remains relatively more centralized than expenditures and that employment tends to be concentrated in lower levels of government. Except for transition economies, the levels of decentralization are relatively stable over the time period. The findings are shown by degree of economic development, constitutional power arrangements, and geographic area, broadly confirming key factors identified in the literature as determining the extent of fiscal decentralization.

Subject: Economic and financial statistics, Employee contributions, Expenditure, Fiscal federalism, Fiscal policy, Government finance statistics, Revenue administration, Taxes

Keywords: A number of country, Africa, Central government, Country, Country case studies, Country example, Decentralized country, Employee contributions, Fiscal centralization, Fiscal federalism, General government, Government, Government finance statistic, Government finance statistics, Government level, Indicated number country, Intra government grant, Public goods, Standard deviation, Tax effort, WP

Publication Details

Pages:

30
Volume:

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DOI:

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Issue:

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Series:

Working Paper No. 2011/126
Stock No:

WPIEA2011126
ISBN:

9781455263431
ISSN:

1018-5941

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