The spending power of sub-national decision makers across five policy sectors

Abstract

The paper develops new measures of spending power and performance across five key sectors of sub-national government service delivery –- education, long-term care, transport services, social housing and health care. The new indicators reveal unique insights about how responsibilities are assigned across levels of government, which enable the analysis of different arrangements on outcomes. Differences in characteristics across sectors and types of countries may have important consequences for intergovernmental fiscal relations.