Widespread decentralization of government in East-Central Europe in the 1990s aimed at improving local outcomes. However, performance has varied significantly, even within a uniform institutional framework. Combining publically-available municipal-level data with data from a unique 2005 survey...

Recently a wide and empirically-backed consensus has emerged arguing that direct democratic control over government's spending decisions through initiatives and referenda constrains government size. But what happens if budgetary matters are excluded from the voters' right of the initiative? I...

This paper presents the results of an investigation of selected census towns in northern India. Census towns are settlements that India's census classifies as urban although they continue to be governed as rural settlements. The 2011 census featured a remarkable increase in the number of census...