Democratic Reform and the Transition to Market Economy in Africa

本研究在非洲的一个小样本国家中考察了财政分权与经济政策改革之间的关系。第一个目标是根据选定的财政权力下放指标，对四个国家的权力下放进程进行频谱分析。这样就可以在绝对集权和绝对分权这两个极端之间的光谱连续体上对每个国家的改革进程进行排名。第二个目标是对分权与中央政府财政状况之间的关系进行实证检验，使用非参数方法分析分权与宏观经济指标之间的相关性。需要检验的假设是，如果财政分权是在一个强大、透明、可信的制度和政治框架的背景下实施的，那么财政分权不一定会破坏国家层面的改革。这项研究的结果将有助于制定一项更大的研究提案，该提案将考虑数据和经验模型，这些数据和模型将捕捉到权力下放对非洲更多国家中央政府财政状况的影响

This research examines the relationship between fiscal decentralization and economic policy reforms among a small sample of countries in Africa. The first objective is to conduct a spectral analysis of the decentralization process in four countries on the basis of selected indicators of fiscal decentralization. This allows a ranking of each country's reform process on a spectral continuum between the two extremes of absolute centralization and absolute decentralization. The second objective is to conduct an empirical test of the relationship between decentralization and central government fiscal position, using a non-parametric approach to analyze correlations between and among the decentralization and macroeconomic indicators. The hypothesis to be tested is that if fiscal decentralization is enacted in the context of a strong, transparent, and credible institutional and political framework, fiscal decentralization need not undermine reforms at the national level. The results of this research will enable the development of a larger research proposal that considers data and empirical models that capture the effects of decentralization on the fiscal position of central government for a larger sample of countries in Africa