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Publications
Publications (40)
This paper takes advantage of the exogenous phasing of direct elections in districts and applies the double- difference estimator to measure impacts on (i) human development outcomes and (ii) the pattern of public spending and revenue generation at the district level. The analysis reveals that four years after the switch to direct elections, there...
The paper considers the process of discovery for subsoil resources, including both hard minerals and hydrocarbons and estimates its magnitude in recent years, as derived from the sum of extraction and changes in proven reserves. Spurred on by technology change and strong market conditions, discovery has been substantial for most minerals. The value...
The recent political upheavals in the Middle East and North Africa region have exposed growing concerns about conflict risk, political stability, and reform prospects across its societies. Given the prevalence of oil and gas resource endowments in the region, which a voluminous literature suggests can be associated with adverse development conseque...
Sets out the elements of a framework for considering how national political economy factors may shape intergovernmental systems and reform trajectories. At least four major issues regarding the national and intergovernmental political economy of decentralization should be considered: (1) the initial context and motivations for decentralization refo...
Reviews the range of central government actors typically involved in decentralization, characterizes the positions they are most likely to take regarding decentralization, and considers how these may generate cooperation or competition. The failure of development partners to work cooperatively on decentralization support and the tendency of their b...
Reviews the types of political actors typically involved in decentralization and focuses on the four most important types of incentive structures that politicians face: electoral, partisan, institutional, and coalitional. Different incentive structures are more or less salient in a particular country depending on regime type. In the growing set of...
This paper takes advantage of the exogenous phasing of direct elections in districts and applies the double difference estimator to: (i) measure impacts on the pattern of public spending and revenue generation at the district level; and (ii) investigate the heterogeneity of the impacts on public spending. The authors confirm that the electoral refo...
This volume presents a preliminary framework designed to help international development partners consider the relevance of political economy issues for their programmatic support to decentralization and local government reform. The intention is neither to advocate decentralization in general or in any particular form, nor to presume or privilege an...
Recent studies of large-scale “headline” conflicts have excluded consideration of local conflict, in large part due to the absence of representative data at low levels of geographic specification. This paper is a first attempt to correct for that by assessing the incidence, impacts, and patterns of local conflict in Indonesia. We employ a combinati...
Zusammenfassung: Wir analysieren die Wirkung der Dezentralisierung auf die Korruption am Bei-spiel Indonesiens. Aus theoretischer Sicht ist der Effekt unbestimmt: Zwar erhöht die größere Nähe der Betroffenen zu den Entscheidungsprozessen ihre Eingriffs-und Partizipationsmöglichkeiten, und auch der interjurisdiktionelle Wettbewerb senkt tendenziell...
In recent years, natural and man-made disasters have confronted the international community with its most demanding reconstruction challenges since the aftermath of World War II. Managing the inflow of resources and spending those resources well have proven to be two of the main difficulties in such reconstruction projects, particularly after large...
Over the past three decades the developing world has seen increasing devolution of political and economic power to local governments. Decentralization is considered an important element of participatory democracy and, along with privatization and deregulation, represents a substantial reduction in the authority of national governments over economic...
This paper presents a methodology to evaluate fiscal decentralization focusing on the potential mis-targeting of intergovernmental fiscal equalization transfers. The approach builds on an explicit comparison and the summary measurement of different (horizontal) allocation distributions across states or localities. Whereas formula-based fiscal trans...
How effective are public interventions in addressing significant regional disparities in formal manufacturing concentration in a developing economy? The authors examine the aggregate and sectoral geographic concentration of manufacturing industries for Indonesia, and estimate the impact of factors influencing location choice at the firm level. They...
This paper evaluates the proliferation of local governments concurrent with Indo-nesia's 2001 decentralisation. Largely static for decades under the New Order, the number of municipalities (kota) and districts (kabupaten) has increased by half, from 292 before decentralisation to 434 in 2003. Most of the increase is off-Java. This represents a fund...
The paper considers the role of institutional quality in the medium-term growth prospects of the former communist countries of eastern Europe. There is a large gap in adherence to the rule of law between the countries about to join the European Union and the rest. Growth regressions are used to show that this is likely to have a substantial effect...
Wir analysieren die Wirkung der Dezentralisierung auf die Korruption am Beispiel Indonesiens. Aus theoretischer Sicht ist der Effekt unbestimmt: Zwar erhöht die größere Nähe der Betroffenen zu den Entscheidungsprozessen ihre Eingriffs- und Partizipationsmöglichkeiten, und auch der interjurisdiktionelle Wettbewerb senkt tendenziell das Korruptionsni...
The concept of scapegoating is frequently used to explain how opportunistic elites attempt to deflect blame onto vulnerable ethnic minorities, particularly during times of social turmoil. However, the notion of scapegoating is undertheorized in the confli
This paper analyzes environmental expenditures in Indonesia - a significant newly industrializing economy - reported at the plant level comprising all 23 thousand manufacturing establishments with more than 20 employees. Since compliance is barely enforced, pollution abatement expenditures are effectively voluntary in nature. This allows us to test...