期刊名称：Departmental Discussion Papers / University of Glasgow, Department of Economics
出版年度：2004
卷号：1
出版社：University of Glasgow, Department of Economics
摘要：This paper contributes to the established literature on fiscal consolidations (e.g. Alesina and
Perotti, 1995, 1997, Alesina et al, 1998) by investigating the distinct behaviour of central and
sub-central tiers of government during general government consolidation attempts. In the light
of different degrees of decentralisation across OECD countries, and the different
responsibilities devolved to sub-central tiers, we believe that this approach offers an
illuminating insight into the analysis of fiscal consolidations and their success.
We show that the involvement of the sub-central tiers of government is crucial to achieving
cuts in expenditure, particularly in relation to the overall size of the government wage bill. In
addition, central governments appear to exert a strong influence on the expenditure of subcentral
tiers through their grant allocations, and control of these allocations appears to have a
considerable impact upon the overall success of consolidation attempts. Finally we
demonstrate that there is a skewness in cuts towards sub-central capital expenditure both
when central governments cut grant allocations and when sub-central governments engage in
lone consolidation attempts.
