A central claim in favor of decentralization is that it will improve access to public services, but few studies examine … this question empirically. This paper explores the effects of decentralization on access to health and education in … decentralization improved enrollment rates in public schools and access of the poor to public health services. In both sectors …

Powerful local elites are quite common in developing countries. Thus, whether decentralization reduces or not the level … empirical evidence. Using cross-country information we find that the negative average effect of decentralization on corruption … existence of regions with a relatively weak accountability sector and the design of decentralization and grants can also explain …

The effects of decentralization on public sector outputs is much debated but little agreed upon. This paper compares … the remarkable case of Bolivia with the more complex case of Colombia to explore decentralization´s effects on public … education outcomes. In Colombia, decentralization of education finance improved enrollment rates in public schools. In Bolivia …

decentralization and its effects over local governance. This period of Colombian history (1974-2004) has been graved by strong economic …, social and institutional changes that have deepened particularly since the decentralization process of the mid eighties. In … fact, this paper states that decentralization process transformed the conflict into a dispute over the local power …

roads. Governance reforms analyzed referred mostly to decentralization, formal processes of citizen’s participation and … centralized and authoritarian regimes find it harder to make decentralization, participation and competitive modes of delivery …