Can local institutions take a lead role in reducing poverty? In the past the answer would have been an emphatic no. Local institutions have traditionally been a blind spot for national government and international development agencies. But high-performing local institutions in Burkina Faso have...

Greater fiscal decentralization is consistently associated with lower mortality rates. And its positive effects on infant mortality are greater in institutional environments that promote political rights

Voters in India are more vigilant in monitoring government at the local than at the national level. In state assembly elections voters reward incumbents for local income growth, and punish them for a rise in inequality, over their entire term in office. But in national elections voters behave...