Decentralisation And Reform In Latin America

ÔThis volume provides a splendid and wide-ranging collection of studies analyzing the political-economy of decentralization in Latin-America. ItÕs a fascinating story with numerous and profound insights into how fiscal decentralization actually works in the context of a variety of fiscal institutions and in a setting with a high degree of inequality in the distribution of income and territorial disparities.Õ Ð Wallace E. Oates, University of Maryland, US ÔThe volume on Decentralization and Reform in Latin America is an important addition to the growing literature on decentralization. Some of the issues in the implementation and effectiveness of decentralization are similar all over the world, but there are issues of particular salience to Latin America, a region where decentralization reforms have come sometimes in the wake of major political reforms. This volume pays special attention to the complexity of issues (both relating to equity and efficiency) arising in the context of vertical fiscal imbalance and inter-governmental transfers, in the delivery of social services or investment spending, in the sharing of rent from natural resources among social and regional groups and in macro-fiscal stabilization. I expect the volume to receive widespread attention.Õ Ð Pranab Bhardan, University of California, Berkeley, US ÔWhen it comes to fiscal decentralization in developing countries, Latin America has long led the way. In the two decades prior to the mid-1990s, some countries in the region extensively decentralized expenditures, especially social expenditures, and to a much lesser extent revenues to subnational governments. Some excesses and distortions resulted from these initial efforts and over the next decade major attempts were made to offset such problems, primarily by changing fiscal rules and transfer systems. The recent boom in natural resource revenues has again exacerbated pressure on the intergovernmental fiscal system in many countries, leading to further attempts to adjust the flow of finance between governments in order to maintain macroeconomic balance while achieving both more effective service delivery and greater social cohesion. This book, which provides both description and analysis of the rich Latin American experience, should be required reading not only for all those interested in the region but for scholars and policy-makers anywhere who are concerned with the complex and many-faceted issues associated with decentralization.Õ Ð Richard M. Bird, University of Toronto, Canada ÔGiorgio Brosio and Juan Pablo JimŽnez have made a remarkable job in preparing the best comprehensive treatment of comparative decentralization experiences in Latin America. The volume reviews all aspects of the decentralization process: its constitutional roots and its contribution to social cohesion; the provision of social services and infrastructure; taxation, sharing in natural resource revenues and the design of the intergovernmental transfers; and its macro-financial implications and associated fiscal rules. It will be essential reading for analysts of fiscal and local government issues in the region and a very useful tool for Latin Americanists in general.Õ Ð JosŽ Antonio Ocampo, Professor, Columbia University. Former Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean and Finance Minister of Colombia Decentralisation and Reform in Latin America analyses the process of intergovernmental reform in Latin America in the last two decades and presents a number of emerging issues. These include the impacts of decentralization and the response of countries in the region to challenge such as social cohesion, interregional and interpersonal disparities, the assignment of social and infrastructure expenditure, macrofinancial shocks, fiscal rules and the sharing of natural resources revenue. The main aim of the book is to assess the effective working of decentralized arrangements and institutions, with a view of suggesting corrections and reforms where the system is not working according to expectations. Policymakers, researchers and academics with an interest in subjects related to public policy, fiscal rules, intergovernmental relations, governance and decentralization will find this book invaluable.

Much of the scholarly and professional literature on development focuses either on the ‘macro’ level of national policies and politics or on the ‘micro’ level of devel- ment projects and household or community socio-economic dynamics. By contrast, this collection pitches itself at the ‘meso’ level with a comparative exploration of the ways in which local institutions – municipalities, local governments, city authorities, civil society networks and others – have demanded, and taken on, a greater role in planning and managing development in the Latin American region. The book’s rich empirical studies reveal that local institutions have engaged upwards, with central authorities, to shape their policy and resource environments and in turn, been pressured from ‘below’ by local actors contesting the ways in which the structures and processes of local governance are framed. The examples covered in this volume range from global cities, such as Mexico and Santiago, to remote rural areas of the Bolivian and Brazilian Amazon. As a result the book provides a deep understanding of the diversity and complexity of local governance and local development in Latin America, while avoiding the stereotyped claims about the impact of globalisation or the potential benefits of decentralisation, as frequently stated in less empirically grounded analysis.

Is it always true that decentralization reforms put more power in the hands of governors and mayors? In post-developmental Latin America, the surprising answer to this question is no. In fact, a variety of outcomes are possible, depending largely on who initiates the reforms, how they are initiated, and in what order they are introduced. Tulia G. Falleti draws on extensive fieldwork, in-depth interviews, archival records, and quantitative data to explain the trajectories of decentralization processes and their markedly different outcomes in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico. In her analysis, she develops a sequential theory and method that are successful in explaining this counterintuitive result. Her research contributes to the literature on path dependence and institutional evolution and will be of interest to scholars of decentralization, federalism, subnational politics, intergovernmental relations, and Latin American politics.

Annotation This report examines the impact of decentralization and its effect on the efficiency of public services, on equity, and on macroeconomic stability.

Is it always true that decentralization reforms put more power in the hands of governors and mayors? In postdevelopmental Latin America, the surprising answer to this question is no. In fact, a variety of outcomes are possible, depending largely on who initiates the reforms, how they are initiated, and in what order they are introduced. Tulia G. Falleti draws on extensive fieldwork, in-depth interviews, archival records, and quantitative data to explain the trajectories of decentralization processes and their markedly different outcomes in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico. In her analysis, she develops a sequential theory and method that are successful in explaining this counterintuitive result. Her research contributes to the literature on path dependence and institutional evolution and will be of interest to scholars of decentralization, federalism, subnational politics, intergovernmental relations, and Latin American politics.

This document aims to provide guidance to policymakers and development practitioners on how to shape public action to get better quality services for all in Latin America. Latin American countries have seen significant progress in the last 20 years in the coverage of social and infrastructure services. However, coverage gaps and poor quality of services remain a serious problem for many citizens, particularly the poor. While technical difficulties may still be a constraint for some sophisticated services, they are clearly not a difficulty for the most essential ones. Understanding questions of access and quality of services is about the behaviors of people, from teachers, to administrators, politicians, and rich and poor citizens. The main concern is whether those responsible for designing and delivering services are accountable to the citizens who are demanding the services and also paying the taxes and fees that finance these services.

"Di Gropello analyzes decentralization reforms in the education sector in Latin America (their status, impact, and ongoing challenges) by making use of the accountability framework developed by the World Development Report 2004: Making Services Work for Poor People. She starts by identifying three main groups of models according to the subnational actors involved, the pattern adopted in the distribution of functions across subnational actors, and the accountability system central to the model. She then reviews the impact of these models according to the available empirical evidence, and explores determinants of this impact, extracting lessons useful to the design of future reforms. The author concludes that the single most important factor in ensuring the success or failure of a reform is the way the accountability relationships are set to work within each of the models and provides some lessons on how to get these relationships to work effectively. She also provides three main general lessons for selecting 'successful' models: (1) avoid complicated models; (2) increase school autonomy and the scope for 'client power,' maintaining a clear role for the other accountability relationships; and (3) place more emphasis on the 'management' accountability relationship and the sustainability of the models"--Abstract.

Annotation World Bank Discussion Paper No. 357.Decentralization and democratization in the Latin America and the Caribbean region have produced a wave of innovations on the local government level--upgrading professional staffs, raising taxes and user fees, delivering better services, and mobilizing participation in public choice-making. This paper documents five cases of best practices at the local level, focusing on innovations in Mendoza, Argentina; Curitiba, Brazil; Cali, Colombia; Manizales, Colombia; and Tijuana, Mexico. A the central message of the paper is that by supporting creation and adoption of best practice, donors can enjoy a cost-effective impact in achieving the next stages of reform in the region, but that work must be done at the local level.