Financing Education at the Local Level: A Study of the Russian Region of Novgorod.

Rapide decentralizatioon since 1992 has given substantial responsability for key government services not just to Russias' 88 regions (oblasts) but also to its 1800 local authorities (raisons). It seems likely that that this will have had consequences for the enquiry of provision of these services. However, very little is yet known about how the fiscal system works at the raison level. The majority of the studies of the impact of decentralization in Russia have concentrated on the relationship between the federal government and the oblast. This paper attempts to fill in a small part of this information gap by presenting an analysis of the system of financing of one service, education, in one oblast, Novgorod in the Noth-West Ruissia.