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Unconditional Transfers and Fiscal Autonomy

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Global Encyclopedia of Public Administration, Public Policy, and Governance

Synonyms

Central-to-local subsidy; Fiscal decentralization; Fiscal grants; Fiscal transfers; Intergovernmental grants; Intergovernmental transfers; Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA); Public transfers

Introduction

Intergovernmental transfers supposedly usher development and address fiscal imbalance in favor of under-resourced local governments. When transfers are unconditional, however, what happens to fiscal autonomy? Does it have any bearing on social expenditure?

Most policy debates on decentralization focus their attention on issues such as efficiency and governance and only slightly on the contextual and institutional features of decentralization policies that affect developmental outcomes. There may be a need, however, to reexamine the debate as more and more governments in fledgling democracies deliberate on the most suitable system of transferring authority and responsibility for the delivery of public goods to citizens. In the Philippines, for example, the question of whether...

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Panao, R.A.L. (2021). Unconditional Transfers and Fiscal Autonomy. In: Farazmand, A. (eds) Global Encyclopedia of Public Administration, Public Policy, and Governance. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-31816-5_4137-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-31816-5_4137-1

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  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-31816-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-31816-5

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