State rescaling may take a variety of shapes although scant research has been carried out into the mechanisms and economic incentives that underpin rescaling processes. This paper identifies and measures the effect of two broad state downscaling mechanisms, namely the development of regional...

The rise of the meso level of government in Europe can be explained by the pressures of managing national diversity, functional restructuring and political change. Spain, Italy and the United Kingdom all have such a level but taking very different forms. All have embarked on a second round of...

The majority of the literature on fiscal decentralization has tended to stress that the greater capacity of decentralized governments to tailor policies to local preferences and to be innovative in the provision of policies and public services, the greater the potential for economic efficiency...