China is the most decentralized country in the world in terms of expenditures shares, with subnational governments responsible for 85 percent of government spending. Limited revenue autonomy and insufficient intergovernmental transfers have led to large unfunded mandates and a build-up of debt...

Like a number of other states, Oregon has been hampered in its pension reform efforts since 1996 by its state supreme court's embrace of the “California Rule,” a doctrine arising, in Oregon's case, from a misunderstanding of federal Contract Clause precedent. Under the misreading, states...

In this paper, we estimate the efficiency of Metropolitan, Municipal, and District Assemblies (MMDAs) in Ghana, and investigate the impact of fiscal decentralization on the efficiency of local public goods and services delivery by MMDAs. Using data from composite budgets of all 216 MMDAs, we...

Regions with large cities are driving growth in Bulgaria, while many rural regions suffer from depopulation and rapid ageing. Improving living standards across all regions will require better coverage and access to public services, notably in health and long-term care. Policy action to integrate...

Soda taxes are being implemented in several cities across the US with the aim of reducing sugar intake from sugar sweetened beverages (SSBs). Sugar is linked to obesity and to higher risk of diabetes and cardiovascular conditions, and sodas as the main source are targeted with these taxes. In...

Many states in recent decades enacted laws that limit the collection of property taxes. This study examines the impacts of New York State’s 2011 tax cap on education revenues and student achievement. We use an instrumental variables approach with 663 school districts from 2006 to 2016. We find...

This paper studies how fiscal decentralization affects local services. It explores a 1993 reform that increased the fiscal autonomy of Italian municipalities by replacing government transfers with revenues from a local property tax. Our identification leverages cross-municipal variation in the...

This study examines the long-term link between early-life cigarette taxes and adult smoking behavior. Using U.S. birth certificate records over 2009-2019, we explore the intergenerational behavioral effects of higher in-utero cigarette taxes. We find that the mother's exposure to higher in-utero...

Diese Studie diskutiert die Rolle der österreichischen Gemeinden im Hinblick auf Bildung, Pflege und Klima vor dem Hintergrund der Einnahmen- und Ausgabenentwicklung und des Finanzausgleichs. Die Covid-19-Krise wirkt sich negativ auf die Gemeindefinanzen aus, die Steuerreform verursacht...

Stefanie Gäbler prepared this study while she was working at the ifo Center for Public Finance and Political Economy. The study was completed in March 2020 and accepted as doctoral thesis by the Department of Economics at the University of Munich. It consists of six distinct empirical essays...