Decentralization Without Democracy

• In Event: Political Science, Intergovernmental Relations, and Public Administration Mini-Conference: Politics and Public Administration in Comparative Federalism

Abstract

Decentralization is being increasingly adopted by countries in which assumptions of formal models of decentralization--including electoral accountability and population mobility--fail to hold. How does decentralization affect public service delivery in such contexts? We exploit the partial rollout of decentralization in the autocratic context of Ethiopia and use a spatial regression discontinuity design to identify its impacts. Decentralization improves delivery of productive public services, specifically agricultural services, but has no impacts on social services--specifically, drinking water services. This is consistent with a model we present in which local leaders have superior information on which public investments will deliver the greatest returns, and are incentivized by decentralization to maximize citizens' production--on which rents depend--but not citizens' utility. These findings shed light on non-electoral mechanisms through which decentralization affects public goods provision and help to explain decentralization's mixed impacts in many non-democratic settings.

Authors

• Katrina Kosec, IFPRI

• Tewodaj Mogues, International Monetary Fund