摘要：The paper analyzes the impact of decentralization on governance employing four indicators of
governance and five measures of decentralization. Depending on data availability, cross-
sections for a maximum of 129 countries are estimated. Results for a panel of about 70
countries over the period 1984-2001 are also presented. The results show that decentralization
– measured as the share of sub-national employment, revenues or, respectively, expenditures
– improves governance. This is particularly true for low income countries but – depending on
the indicator employed – to some extent for high income countries also. However, the number
of sub-national government tiers exerts a negative impact on some dimensions of governance
