There is a growing debate on the relative merits of universal and targeted social assistance transfers in achieving … incentive, administrative, social and political costs. The appropriate balance between targeted and universal transfers will …

decomposed into differences in the magnitude of transfers (fiscal effort) and in the progressivity of transfers (fiscal … progressivity). Fiscal progressivity is further decomposed into differences in the distribution of transfers across income groups …

We assess the extent to which fiscal transfers smooth regional shocks in three large federations: the U.S., Canada, and … Australia. We find that fiscal transfers offset 4-11 percent of idiosyncratic shocks (risk-sharing) and 13-24 percent of … budget primarily through federal taxes and transfers to individuals, rather than transfers from the central government to …