This paper explores the relationship between fiscal decentralization, which gave greater rural industrialization and fiscal authority to local governments, and the emergence of rural-rural undocumented inter-provincial labor migration during China's initial reform period. A Heckman model is...

In this paper, we study a model a la Rogoff (1990) where politicians distort fiscal policy to signal their competency, but where fiscal policy can be centralized or decentralized. Our main focus is on how the equilibrium probability that fiscal policy is distorted in any region (the political...

The purpose of this Note is to provide a model of the determinants of geographic AFDC differentials. In particular, the model developed and tested below hypothesizes a basically political determination of AFDC levels, a political determination principally involving an alignment of two...

While previous research has documented how the Kalamazoo Promise, the most prominent and generous place-based college scholarship program, increased enrollment in Kalamazoo Public Schools, this paper qualifies and quantifies the characteristics of students who were induced to enter—or...

We analyze federal systems of government in which local public policies are financed by general taxation. In a decentralized political system there is, in each region, a vote to elect a local representative while in a centralized political system a single representative is elected by a federal...

In this paper, we develop a simple theoretical model in order to explain how politicians choose between progressive and regressive tax schemes that serve to afford some local service production costs. It consists of a bipartisan model in which each party’s preferences are lexicographic, giving...

The paper provides a theoretical rationale for flexicurity policies, which consist of low employment protection, generous unemployment insurance and active labor market programmes. It analyzes in which conditions flexicurity can be optimal. Low employment protection encourages costly education...

The rise of the extreme poles in the European political Spectrum, corresponds currently with a clear call for help by the site of simple People, combined with the desire for a serious confrontation with the tragic impasse reproduced by the extreme Problems of the everyday live . In this case,...

We study how fiscal policies and commuting costs determine the geographical distribution of workers and households in an economy. We characterize equilibrium outcomes in a simple two-region model with commuting costs, local public goods, and local infrastructure. We also provide a short survey...

Understanding the logic of fiscal decentralization is pivotal for the next steps of fiscal reform, and retrospection of the literature and evidences accumulated in the field is the first step. As a typical transition economy with rapid and extensive devolution reforms, China is the ideal context...