Decentralization is among the most important global trends of the new century, yet there is still no consensus on how to design political institutions to realize its benefits. In this paper, we investigate the political conditions under which decentralization will improve the delivery of public...

Many developing countries are seeking to improve governance with fiscal decentralization. It is therefore worth revisiting what we know about political and economic institutions to understand how and under what circumstances decentralization can be beneficial. In an effort to do that, I review...