Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/300949 
Year of Publication: 
2024
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 17053
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
We examine the human development consequences of transferring responsibility for public service provision to local governments in India, using state-level variation in the timing of administrative decentralization reforms. We find that devolution of the responsibility for health functions from state to local governments, without concomitant authority over personnel or taxation, results in a worsening of neonatal, infant and under-5 child mortality. Such partial devolution results in worse indicators of public health provision, as well as lower rates of primary school completion. Our results cannot be attributed to differential pre-trends, omitted variables bias, or heterogeneous treatment effects.
Subjects: 
decentralization
infant mortality
primary schooling
local governments
India
JEL: 
H77
H75
D73
H41
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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