This paper address options for restructuring the revenue system of Bolivia's subnational governments, particularly prefectures, emphasizing reduction of dependence on natural resources and strengthening of subnational tax autonomy. The paper additionally identifies tax instruments or tax bases...

This Working Paper should not be reported as representing the views of the IMF. The views expressed in this Working Paper are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent those of the IMF or IMF policy. Working Papers describe research in progress by the author(s) and are published to...

Colombia is neither waging war against external enemies, nor has a dictatorial government engaged in a large scale repression of insurrection. However, it is possibly the most violent country of the world. Despite a number of papers focusing on the effects of violence on democracy in Colombia,...

An equalization system ensures that subnational governments can provide similar level of public services at a comparable level of own tax-effort. This paper focuses on the importance of spending needs factors in the design of equalization transfers as well as special purpose transfers-and the...

There is a widespread presumption that decentralization improves public service provision. This has led to policy prescriptions that are assiduously adhered to by countries and international. This paper reviews the recent evidence from OECD countries-which is seen to be inconclusive. This...

A weakness of decentralization and overall tax reforms in Latin America is the lack of attention to adequate taxation at the subnational government. A reliance on shared taxes with extensive earmarking leads to weak subnational accountability and soft budget constraints. The paper explores the...

This paper builds up a model for analysing regional attitudes towards separation from national states, where separation implies `opting out' of the national income redistribution system and starting a regional one, while at the same time having direct access to supranational institutions. In an...

This paper assesses how decentralization can contribute, if proper political and fiscal institutions are present, to improving service delivery in Asia. In other words, decentralization is an opportunity and a challenge at the same time. The paper presents the salient characteristics of...

This paper analyzes the welfare losses deriving from centralized, uniform levels of public provision of good and services deriving from standards set up by a given level of government. The aim of the paper is to contribute to the growing literature on the e?ective outcomes of decentralization by...

The paper suggests an explanation for the geographical dimension of tax evasion that focuses on the structure of territorial government. Taxes administered by the central government are not differentiated by regions. Poor areas may prefer a combination of lower taxes and lower levels of public...