1976/06/01 by J. FRED GIERTZ, J. Fred Giertz
Economics, Econometrics and Finance · Social Sciences · #Fiscal Policy and Economic Growth #Local Government Finance and Decentralization #Fiscal Policies and Political Economy
paper · doi:10.1086/ntj41862103
Various hypotheses concerning decentralization of governmental activities are developed from the theoretical literature in this area. An empirical investigation of the division of activities between state and local governments in the fifty states of the United States is then conducted to determine if these factors are important in explaining the variation in the degree of decentralization among the states. The results of this study tend to confirm most of the hypotheses contained in the theoretical work in that the relevant variables suggested by the theory account for a very large percentage of the variation in decentralization.