Jean-Paul Faguet

We review empirical evidence on the ability of decentralization to enhance preference matching and technical efficiency in the provision of health and education in developing countries. Many influential surveys have foun... Read more...

Development Discussion Papers

DECENTRALIZATION AND GOVERNANCE

01 June 2011

Jean-Paul Faguet

The most important theoretical argument concerning decentralization is that it can improve governance by making government more accountable and responsive to the governed. Improving governance is also central to the moti... Read more...

Development Economics Papers

Decentralization's Effects on Educational Outcomes in Bolivia and Colombia

01 March 2006

Jean-Paul Faguet and Fabio Sanchez

The effects of decentralization on public sector outputs is much debated but little agreed upon. This paper compares the remarkable case of Bolivia with the more complex case of Colombia to explore decentralization’s eff... Read more...

Political Economy and Public Policy Papers

GOVERNANCE FROM BELOW A Theory of Local Government With Two Empirical Tests

01 August 2005

Jean-Paul Faguet

I examine decentralization through the lens of the local dynamics that it unleashes. The national effects of decentralization are simply the sum of its local-level effects. Hence to understand decentralization we must fi... Read more...

Development Economics Papers

Why So Much Centralization? A Model of Primitive Centripetal Accumulation

01 June 2004

Jean-Paul Faguet

With strong conceptual arguments in its favor, decentralization is a popular and growing policy trend across the world. And yet dozens of empirical studies have failed to find convincing evidence that past reforms have w... Read more...