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Decentralization effects in ecological fiscal transfers - the case of Portugal
[working paper]
Corporate Editor
Helmholtz-Zentrum für Umweltforschung - UFZ
Abstract Portugal has a unitary system in which the central government transfers funds to lower government levels for their public functions. In 2007, Portugal introduced Ecological Fiscal Transfers (EFT), where municipalities receive transfers for hosting Protected Areas (PA). We study whether introducing E... view more
Portugal has a unitary system in which the central government transfers funds to lower government levels for their public functions. In 2007, Portugal introduced Ecological Fiscal Transfers (EFT), where municipalities receive transfers for hosting Protected Areas (PA). We study whether introducing EFT in Portugal incentivized municipalities to designate PA and has led to a decentralization of conservation decisions. We employ a Bayesian structural time series approach to estimate the effect of introducing EFT in comparison to a simulated counterfactual time series. Quantitative results show a significant increase in the ratio of municipal and national PA designations following Portugal’s EFT introduction. The analysis furthermore places emphasis on the importance of relevant municipal conservation competencies and the role of local decision makers’ motivations for PA designations. Results have important implications for conservation policy-making in terms of allocating budgets and competencies in multi-level governments.... view less
Keywords
environmental protection; nature reserve; public tasks; funding; redistribution; federalism; decentralization; transfer payments; multi-level-governance; conservation; Portugal
Classification
Ecology, Environment
Public Finance
Free Keywords
Bayesian structural time series; ecological fiscal transfers; fiscal federalism; municipal competencies
Document language
English
Publication Year
2017
City
Leipzig
Page/Pages
33 p.
Series
UFZ Discussion Papers, 3/2017
ISSN
1436-140X
Status
Published Version; reviewed
Licence
Creative Commons - Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike