邹恒甫经济学论文6.pdfVIP

Designing Intergovernmental Transfers in Russia: A Simulation Study ∗ Tao Zhang and Heng-fu Zou Public Economics Division Policy Research Department The World Bank November 1996 ∗ Prepared for Intergovernmental Transfers and Regional Development in Russia.” Country Operations Division 2, Country Department 3, World Bank. 1. INTRODUCTION Many countries have a mandate to decentralize some aspects of their public finance system (Dillinger, 1994). Some countries (e.g., Uganda 1 ) are proceeding at a rapid pace with their decentralization efforts as dictated by their constitutions; other countries have adopted decentralization in certain sectors such as infrastructure, education and 2 3 4 5 health (e.g., Colombia , Venezuela , and Philippines ); while others (e.g., Kenya ) are contemplating a reform of their local governments with the support of the Bank; and still other countries are listening to the Bank on “reorienting” and rethinking the role of the state (e.g., Bangladesh6, the Caribbean7 and Paraguay 8). An important dimension of these efforts has been the role of intergovernmental grants. Intergovernmental grants along with tax and expenditure assignments to various levels of government represent the three fundamental instruments of fiscal decentralization. Intergovernmental grants are important sources of revenues for many subnational governments. Historically, developing countries have on average relied less on intergovernmental grants than developed countries. For example, over the 1970-1992 period, intergovernmental grants in developing countries have ac