Does Fiscal Decentralization Improve Health Outcomes? Evidence from a Cross-Country Analysis
Decentralization of fiscal responsibilities has emerged as a primary objective on the agendas of national governments, and international organizations alike. Yet there is little empirical evidence on the potential benefits of this intervention. The...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Policy Research Working Paper |
| Language: | English en_US |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2014
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2001/03/1047444/fiscal-decentralization-improve-health-outcomes-evidence-cross-country-analysis http://hdl.handle.net/10986/19698 |
| Summary: | Decentralization of fiscal
responsibilities has emerged as a primary objective on the
agendas of national governments, and international
organizations alike. Yet there is little empirical evidence
on the potential benefits of this intervention. The authors
fill in some quantitative evidence. Using panel data on
infant mortality rates, GDP per capita, and the share of
public expenditures managed by local governments, they find
greater fiscal decentralization is consistently associated
with lower mortality rates. The results suggest that the
benefits of fiscal decentralization are particularly
important for poor countries. They suggest also that the
positive effects of fiscal decentralization on infant
mortality, are greater in institutional environments that
promote political rights. Fiscal decentralization also
appears to be a mechanism for improving health outcomes in
environments with a high level of ethno-linguistic
fractionalization, however, the benefits from fiscal
decentralization tend to be smaller. |
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