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An Essay on Fiscal Federalism

Wallace E. Oates

Professor of Economics, University of Maryland, and University Fellow, Resources for the Future.

This paper is a selective survey of fiscal federalism. It begins with a brief review and some reflections on the traditional theory of fiscal federalism: the assignment of functions to levels of government, the welfare gains from fiscal decentralization, and the use of fiscal instruments. It then explores a series of important topics that are the subject of current research: laboratory federalism, interjurisdictional competition and environmental federalism, the political economy of fiscal federalism, market-preserving federalism, and fiscal decentralization in the developing and transitional economies.

DOI

10.1257/jel.37.3.1120

Volume

37 (3)

Pages

1120-1149

Language

en

Export

BibTeX

Sources

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