Advocates of fiscal decentralization argue that among other benefits, it can increase the
efficiency of delivery of government services. This paper is one of the first to evaluate this
claim empirically by looking at the association between expenditure decentralization and the
productive efficiency of government using a data set of Swiss cantons. We first provide
careful evidence that expenditure decentralization is a powerful proxy for legal local
autonomy. Further panel regressions of Swiss cantons provide robust evidence that more …

Advocates of fiscal decentralization argue that amongst other benefits, it can increase the
efficiency of delivery of government services. This paper is one of the first to evaluate this
claim empirically by looking at the association between education expenditure
decentralization and the productive efficiency of schools using a data-set of Swiss cantons.
We first provide careful evidence that expenditure decentralization is a powerful proxy for
legal local autonomy. Further panel regressions of Swiss cantons provide robust evidence …