Shifting fiscal responsibilities downstream: fiscal decentralisation and economic growth in South Africa

Abstract

Fiscal decentralisation, or the shifting of some responsibilities for expenditures and/or revenues to lower levels or other spheres of government, has been identified as a vehicle for stimulating economic growth at the provincial or regional level in developing countries. Margaret Chitiga and colleagues examined the case for South Africa and found a weak but positive relationship between fiscal decentralisation and provincial-level economic growth.