With a detailed empirical analysis of effective outcomes of public policies implemented at the sub-national level, and a focus on method, this book will be of great interest to academics specializing in public sector economics and public finance, and to national and international policymakers.

Contents: Preface 1. Does Decentralization Enhance Service Delivery and Poverty Reduction? Ehtisham Ahmad and Giorgio Brosio PART I: POSITIVE APPROACHES 2. Information Distortion, Elite Capture and Task Complexity in Decentralized Development Jean-Philippe Platteau 3. Governance Dilemmas in Service Delivery Pranab Bardhan 4. Political Economy Approaches to Fiscal Decentralization Ben Lockwood 5. The Politics of Partial Decentralization Shantayanan Devarajan, Stuti Khemani and Shekhar Shah PART II: WHAT DO WE KNOW? 6. What Do We Know? Evidence on Decentralization and Local Service Provision Ehtisham Ahmad and Giorgio Brosio 7. Decentralization in Bolivia: Has it Made a Difference? Gabriela Inchauste 8. Uganda: Managing More Effective Decentralization Ehtisham Ahmad, Giorgio Brosio and Maria Gonzalez 9. The Impact of Decentralization on Education in Poland Maciej Jakubowski and Irena Topińska 10. Evaluating the Effects of Decentralization on Public Service Delivery: The Spanish Experience Albert Solé-Ollé PART III: SELECTED NORMATIVE AND POLICY ISSUES 11. Decentralization and Public Service Provision – A Framework for Pro-poor Institutional Design Regina Birner and Joachim von Braun 12. Fiscal Policy Instruments and the Political Economy of Designing Programs to Reach the Poorest Ehtisham Ahmad 13. Subnational Insolvency and Governance: Cross-country Experiences and Lessons Lili Liu and Michael Waibel Index