Open research questions in Local Government Finance and Decentralization
384 gap statements mined from Local Government Finance and Decentralization papers in our 7.9M-paper local library, which holds 3,438 papers on the topic — drawn mostly from each paper's own stated research gap, future-work, challenge and limitation notes, and its abstract. The ones listed below are a selection still marked open; each names the study that raised it, with a DOI link where the paper has one.
Choosing where to publish on Local Government Finance and Decentralization? See the ranked Social Science journals.
What the literature leaves open
They also highlight the need for further research on the long-term fiscal impacts of citizen participation in local governance.
Examining the Relationship Between Citizen Participation and Municipal Fiscal Conditions · 2025 · DOIDespite its increasing prevalence, little is known about how such disclosure of government financial performance information influences voter behavior.
Financial Performance Information and Citizens’ Voting Decisions: Evidence from School District Budget Referenda · 2025 · DOIHowever, quantifying the interdependence between land-use efficiency, local government revenue, employment and infrastructure development whilst controlling for significant cross-city differences remains a gap in the literature.
Land-use efficiency and local government revenue: Evidence from 272 Chinese cities using a novel structural equation modelling approach · 2024 · DOIThe existing literature on fiscal federalism and decentralization in Pakistan has not adequately addressed the economic rationale for creating new provinces. The paper identifies a gap in the debate on fiscal federalism and decentralization in Pakistan.
Future research could examine the effects of different types of regulations on intergovernmental competition. Future research could analyze the impact of the Furusato Nozei program on regional disparities in Japan.
Do caps on intergovernmental competition work? The case of Japan’s Furusato Nozei program · 2026 · DOIThe paper highlights the need to consider the potential effects of regulations on municipal participation decisions.
Do caps on intergovernmental competition work? The case of Japan’s Furusato Nozei program · 2026 · DOIThe lack of financial resources and limited management capabilities of local governments. The insufficiently effective administration of local taxes. The need for a model to strengthen local fiscal resilience through digital administrative reforms and optimised tax incentive structures.
Fiscal Decentralization and Local Tax Policy: An Empirical Analysis of Community Self-Sufficiency in Ukraine · 2026 · DOIFuture research should focus on finding ways to reduce tax evasion, - Improving the legal framework and its imperfections could be a potential solution.
The gap in the literature is the lack of analysis on the consequences of tax evasion for the economy and society, - The paper aims to fill this gap by analyzing the impact of tax evasion on the state's tax revenues.
Limited autonomy imposed by the central government. Centralised control and resource dependency. Lack of political will and elite capture of the decentralisation process.
The study identifies a gap in the current legal construction of subnational governance in Cameroon, which is inadequate to achieve the type of decentralised, inclusive system projected. The study highlights the need for significant legal reforms to strengthen regional and local authorities.
Future research should explore the implications of recentralization for governance and accountability in Indonesia. Further studies could examine the effects of decentralization on regional disparities and democratic governance.
The paper identifies a gap in the understanding of decentralization in Indonesia, highlighting the need for a more nuanced analysis of authority distribution and reconfiguration. Prior work has focused on the benefits of decentralization, but the paper argues that the complexities of recentralization have been overlooked.
The study must address the complexity of fiscal decentralization and regional fiscal independence. The study needs to consider the specific context of the Ciayumajakuning region.
Determinants of Regional Fiscal Independence of Local Governments in Ciayumajakuning: A Panel Data Analysis of Local Tax, GRDP, Transparency, and Intergovernmental Transfers · 2026 · DOIFuture studies could examine other potential determinants of regional fiscal independence. Future research could focus on the implementation of governance practices to improve local government performance. Future studies could explore the generalizability of the results to other regions in Indonesia.
Determinants of Regional Fiscal Independence of Local Governments in Ciayumajakuning: A Panel Data Analysis of Local Tax, GRDP, Transparency, and Intergovernmental Transfers · 2026 · DOIThe study highlights the need for greater regional autonomy to be accompanied by effective equalization mechanisms.
Ultimately, our findings fail to provide unequivocal evidence of a significant impact on various local revenue streams; in fact, they indicate a decrease in total revenue per capita.
The scope and clarity of the separation of powers between the federal and state governments in fiscal matters remain contested and at times ambiguous. The federal government has historically retained dominant control over taxation and fiscal distribution.
The existing literature does not provide a clear understanding of the institutional logic of such mechanisms.
Savings-Based Incentive Traps in Public Budgeting: Evidence from Kazakhstan and Policy Lessons from Eastern Europe · 2026 · DOIThe authors propose to address the shortcomings of the information system.
This study therefore attempts to fill this gap in the literature by empirically examining the effect of population size on the efficiency of local public spending in Cameroon.
The gap between constitutional theory and administrative practice in Malaysia's fiscal federalism. The role of subsidiary legislation in eroding constitutional guarantees.
Further study on the impact of extreme weather events on local government. Further study on the effectiveness of new plans and strategies. Further study on the role of the Local Democracy Taskforce in strengthening local governance.
Government Authorities. African Journal of Applied Research, 12(1), 228-257. Makalanga, L. (2026).
Determinants of Effective Revenue Collection in Local Government of Tanzania: The Case of Dodoma City Council, Dodoma Region · 2026 · DOISecond, the perspective is limited to the SMEs; therefore, we do not observe the broader impact on the financial market or on other economic agents…
The reform of national judicial geography and access to local financial resources: unintended territorial effects of a central policy in Italy · 2026 · DOI
Most-cited papers in Local Government Finance and Decentralization
- The quality of government · The Journal of Law Economics and Organization · 1999 · 3,579 citations
- A Rational Theory of the Size of Government · Journal of Political Economy · 1981 · 3,186 citations
- An Essay on Fiscal Federalism · Journal of Economic Literature · 1999 · 1,954 citations
- The Expansion of the Public Economy: A Comparative Analysis · American Political Science Review · 1978 · 1,140 citations
- The Political Economy of Benefits and Costs: A Neoclassical Approach to Distributive Politics · Journal of Political Economy · 1981 · 1,045 citations
- Decentralization of Governance and Development · The Journal of Economic Perspectives · 2002 · 1,038 citations
- Balanced-budget redistribution as the outcome of political competition · Public Choice · 1987 · 1,027 citations
- Federalism as a Commitment to Preserving Market Incentives · The Journal of Economic Perspectives · 1997 · 953 citations
- Theories of Tax Competition · National Tax Journal · 1999 · 927 citations
- The Voracity Effect · American Economic Review · 1999 · 848 citations
Most recent work
- Fiscal capacity and capital misallocation: the economic costs of tax evasion · Journal of Public Economics · 2026
- The role of tax delegation in promoting energy efficiency among enterprises · Energy Strategy Reviews · 2026
- State and Local Tax Policy in a Time of Telework · National Tax Journal · 2026
- The Effects of Decentralization on Local Governance: Evidence From Ukraine · Comparative Political Studies · 2026
- Digital public administration and fiscal legitimacy in post-conflict settings · Frontiers in Political Science · 2026
- Decentralization and air pollution: Unintended environmental consequences of China’s fiscal hierarchy reform · Economic Analysis and Policy · 2026
- Pro‐Poor Governance: Evidence on Incentivizing Policy Implementation in Brazil · Politics and Governance · 2026
- From devolution to distortion: political and fiscal constraints on locally led adaptation in Kenya · Climate Policy · 2026
- Fiscal asymmetry and subnational social spending: decoding India’s federal experience · Regional & Federal Studies · 2026
- Fiscal Decentralization and Local Tax Policy: An Empirical Analysis of Community Self-Sufficiency in Ukraine · Journal of Applied Economic Sciences (JAES) · 2026
Find a gap in your own Local Government Finance and Decentralization sub-topic
This page shows what the Local Government Finance and Decentralization literature already flags as unresolved. To narrow it to your specific question, search the Research Gap Finder: the search is free with a free account and lists the papers closest to your topic first. Unlocking that topic (50 credits, charged once) fills the comparison table from our 7.9M-paper local library and writes the gaps from its rows.
Open the Research Gap Finder →