This article presents a framework to analyze federalism based on enactment, implementation, and enforcement institutions. The framework provides a mechanism to determine whether a particular public policy should be conducted at a state or federal level, by examining economies and diseconomies of...

The paper shows that delivery mechanisms have significant impact on the effectiveness of cohesion policy whatever its structure. In the assessment of the present delivery mechanisms the conclusion is made that there are strong arguments for reform, which however would make sense even if one...

While nation states debate climate policy at an international scale, on a local level, cities across the globe have committed to emission targets and mitigation activities. This study analyses the actual performance of municipal climate action against their targets. Official information material...

This paper simultaneously analyses the determinants of intergovernmental fiscal transfers and the votes that these transfers earn in subsequent legislative elections in Portugal. Results suggest that election year increases in transfers by the central government to municipalities secure added...

This paper provides evidence on strategic interaction among local school districts. The analysis makes use of a significant change in the institutional environment for school districts in Michigan in 1996, when the state established a voluntary inter-district choice program. The school...

There is a worldwide tendency for the elaboration of public policy to depend more and more on the setting-up of policy networks among public and private actors, who take part in the decision-making process by means of a non-hierarchical governance. In Brazil there is a policy network which is...

We examine the formation of hub-and-spoke and multilateral green technology international agreements. Green R&D provision produces two types of positive externalities, a global public good (i.e., reduction of carbon dioxide emissions) and spillovers in technology agreements. We utilize the...

The Perfectly Coalition-Proof Nash equilibrium (PCPN) concept is extended to allow for the emergence of overlapping coalitions in equilibrium. We apply the extended concept to study the efficiency and stability properties of environmental agreements to control emissions of correlated continental...

Seaports are an integral component of the marine transportation system; one that provides the vital link between producers and consumers, importers and exporters and military logisticians and deployed forces. Ports are often a leading catalyst and engine for regional economic growth and...

The optimal degree of decentralization depends on the importance of inter-state externalities of local policies. We show that inter-state externalities are determined by the spatial distribution of interest groups within the country. Interest groups who have multi-state scope internalize...