Decentralization and trust in government: Quasi-experimental evidence from Ukraine

IF 2.8 2区经济学 Q1 ECONOMICS

Journal of Comparative Economics Pub Date : 2023-12-01 DOI:10.1016/j.jce.2023.08.002

Helge Arends , Tymofii Brik , Benedikt Herrmann , Felix Roesel

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引用次数: 2

Abstract

Can decentralization of political powers increase trust in government? We present quasi-experimental evidence from Ukraine where political trust has been among the lowest levels worldwide. The national government devolved powers and resources to newly formed local governments (hromadas) between 2015 and 2020; this includes a substantial share of taxes on local incomes. We exploit local differences in the timing of the decentralization reform. Difference-in-differences estimations show that citizens in decentralized communities report more trust in local authorities and participate more often in local elections. The most likely mechanism is the democratic process of coming together to build new local communities. Local trust however does not spill over to trust in national institutions. The results may explain the strong role of hromadas in Ukraine’s resilience against the detrimental effects of the Russian invasion.

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权力下放与对政府的信任：乌克兰的准实验证据

政治权力下放能否增加对政府的信任？我们提供了乌克兰的准实验证据，该国的政治信任度一直处于全球最低水平。国家政府在 2015 年至 2020 年期间向新成立的地方政府（hromadas）下放了权力和资源，其中包括对地方收入征收的大部分税收。我们利用了地方在权力下放改革时间上的差异。差分估计结果显示，权力下放社区的公民对地方政府的信任度更高，参与地方选举的频率也更高。最有可能的机制是共同建设新地方社区的民主进程。然而，地方信任并没有延伸到对国家机构的信任。这些结果或许可以解释为什么 "hromadas "在乌克兰抵御俄罗斯入侵的不利影响方面发挥了强有力的作用。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Journal of Comparative Economics ECONOMICS-

CiteScore

4.40

自引率

0.00%

发文量

审稿时长

45 days

期刊介绍： The mission of the Journal of Comparative Economics is to lead the new orientations of research in comparative economics. Before 1989, the core of comparative economics was the comparison of economic systems with in particular the economic analysis of socialism in its different forms. In the last fifteen years, the main focus of interest of comparative economists has been the transition from socialism to capitalism.