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Topic · Political Science and International Relations

Local Government Finance and Decentralization

Local Government Finance and Decentralization is a research topic within Political Science and International Relations. Science Explorer counts 22k research works in it since 1950. 10.2% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers explores the topic of fiscal decentralization and governance, with a focus on political economy and the provision of local public goods. It covers aspects such as intergovernmental fiscal relations, tax competition, economic growth, and the impact of decentralization on development. The papers analyze the implications of fiscal decentralization for local government, accountability, and service delivery.

  • Fiscal Decentralization
  • Governance
  • Political Economy
  • Local Public Goods
  • Intergovernmental Fiscal Relations
  • Tax Competition
  • Economic Growth
  • Public Sector Decentralisation
  • Local Government
  • Development
Research works
22k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
2.2k
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.2%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
-1%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
United States
25% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Local Government Finance and Decentralization

Which countries lead Local Government Finance and Decentralization research?

By volume, the United States and China publish the most (488 and 424 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 United States 488 works
  2. 2 China 424 works
  3. 3 Indonesia 346 works
  4. 4 Brazil 145 works
  5. 5 United Kingdom 120 works
  6. 6 Germany 114 works
  7. 7 Spain 99 works
  8. 8 India 96 works
  9. 9 Italy 81 works
  10. 10 Nigeria 73 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

United States: 24.6%China: 21.4%Indonesia: 17.4%Brazil: 7.3%6 others listed: 29.3%25%largest
United States488 · 24.6%China424 · 21.4%Indonesia346 · 17.4%Brazil145 · 7.3%6 others listed582 · 29.3%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead Local Government Finance and Decentralization research?

By volume in 2022-now, Institute for Peace Research and Security Policy publishes the most Local Government Finance and Decentralization research, followed by University of Brawijaya and Tribhuvan University.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Institute for Peace Research and Security PolicyGermany 27 works
  2. 2 University of BrawijayaIndonesia 19 works
  3. 3 Tribhuvan UniversityNepal 18 works
  4. 4 Peking UniversityChina 15 works
  5. 5 University of IndonesiaIndonesia 15 works
  6. 6 Fundação Getulio VargasBrazil 14 works
  7. 7 Renmin University of ChinaChina 14 works
  8. 8 Fudan UniversityChina 14 works
  9. 9 London School of Economics and Political ScienceUnited Kingdom 13 works
  10. 10 Russian Academy of SciencesRussia 13 works

Who are the leading researchers in Local Government Finance and Decentralization?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Local Government Finance and Decentralization include Andrei Shleifer, Herbert A. Simon and Mike J Clarke.

  1. 1 Andrei Shleifer United States 234k citations
  2. 2 Herbert A. Simon United States 179k citations
  3. 3 Mike J Clarke United Kingdom 175k citations
  4. 4 Joseph E. Stiglitz United States 167k citations
  5. 5 Michael E. Porter United States 165k citations
  6. 6 Daron Acemoğlu United States 164k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

What are the most cited papers in Local Government Finance and Decentralization?

The most cited paper in Local Government Finance and Decentralization is "A PUBLIC MANAGEMENT FOR ALL SEASONS?" (Christopher Hood, 1991), with 9,741 citations. Next come "Government Spending in a Simple Model of Endogeneous Growth" (6,370) and "Institutions, Institutional Change and Economic Performance." (4,813).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 A PUBLIC MANAGEMENT FOR ALL SEASONS? Christopher Hood · Public Administration Mar 1991 9,741
2 Government Spending in a Simple Model of Endogeneous Growth Robert J. Barro · Journal of Political Economy Open access Oct 1990 6,370
3 Institutions, Institutional Change and Economic Performance. Adriaan Schout, Douglas C. North · The Economic Journal Nov 1991 4,813
4 The “new public management” in the 1980s: Variations on a theme Christopher Hood · Accounting Organizations and Society Feb 1995 3,812
5 Political turnover and economic performance: the incentive role of personnel control in China Hongbin Li, Li‐An Zhou · Journal of Public Economics 29 Sep 2004 3,725
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Local Government Finance and Decentralization research done?

The largest centres of Local Government Finance and Decentralization research in 2022-now are Beijing (China), Shanghai (China), Washington D.C. (United States) and London (United Kingdom). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Kathmandu and Hamburg.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 BeijingChina 93 works
  2. 2 ShanghaiChina 50 works
  3. 3 Washington D.C.United States 43 works
  4. 4 LondonUnited Kingdom 40 works
  5. 5 SeoulSouth Korea 31 works
  6. 6 HamburgGermany 30 works
  7. 7 MakassarIndonesia 30 works
  8. 8 MoscowRussia 30 works
  9. 9 WuhanChina 29 works
  10. 10 New YorkUnited States 28 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. KathmanduNP · 25.9 works8.5×
  2. HamburgDE · 30.0 works5.7×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Local Government Finance and Decentralization than the world average.

See Local Government Finance and Decentralization on the map

Where is the best place to study Local Government Finance and Decentralization?

Among universities, judged by research, Fudan University, Peking University and Zhejiang University score highest, combining citation excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%10%20%30%mean 16.58%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Zhejiang UniversityTsinghua UniversityFudan UniversityPeking University
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the first ten of the table below, at the default weights. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

Citation excellenceshare of its work in the world top 10%, 2022-now and all time averaged
40%
Specialisationhow much of its work is in this field, counted up to 10× the world share
10%
Sizeits output in this field, on a log scale
30%
Growthoutput growth, counted from -20% to +20%
10%
Internationalshare of its work with a co-author abroad
10%
Each slider sets a weight; the share it gets of the score is beside it.
#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1Fudan UniversityChina 67.923.5%2.9×14 +106.6%
2Peking UniversityChina 67.716.6%2.5×15 +50.4%
3Zhejiang UniversityChina 67.225.4%1.5×12 +65.8%
4Tsinghua UniversityChina 66.625.2%1.7×11 +19.1%
5London School of Economics and Political ScienceUnited Kingdom 65.316.7%18.8×13 -23.1%
6Renmin University of ChinaChina 59.019.8%14.2×14 -16.9%
7Central University of Finance and EconomicsChina 55.015.4%34.6×12 +32.5%
8University of IndonesiaIndonesia 52.913.5%4.3×15 +4.3%
9University of BrawijayaIndonesia 51.82.7%7.2×19 +47.5%
10Fundação Getulio VargasBrazil 47.67.0%41.1×14 -4.6%

Universities only. The score blends citation excellence (40%), size (30%), specialisation (10%), growth (10%), international reach (10%), 2022-now; growth compares 2018-21 with 2022-25 and counts up to +20%, since a jump from a small base is mostly noise.

Every institution in Local Government Finance and Decentralization, country by country

Is Local Government Finance and Decentralization research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 1% lower than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2022.

still counting19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon: one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Its share of all research

Growing output can still be a shrinking share: all of science grows. This is Local Government Finance and Decentralization as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.014% in 2024.

still counting0.020%0.040%Local Government Finance and Decentralization0.013% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Local Government Finance and Decentralization over all fractional works that year. How the balance of science has shifted.

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

Year by year.

still counting5%10%15%Local Government Finance and Decentralization10.6% in 2025200020102020

Of each year's works in it, the share that reached the world's 10% most cited for their field and year. A field is the world for its own topics, so there is no other line to hold it against.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.

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