Latin America’s local governments too often fail their people
A forthcoming paper shows the effects of bad government
As Latin America underwent its stunning shift from dictatorship to democracy in the 1980s and 1990s, new constitutions were written. Mindful of past experiences with strong central governments, many countries devolved powers to local ones. The share of expenditure controlled by sub-national layers of government almost doubled between 1985 and 2015, to 25%. The World Bank and other institutions applauded. Local governments, they reckoned, would respond better to their constituents.
This article appeared in the The Americas section of the print edition under the headline “Sub-national and sub-optimal”
From the August 19th 2023 edition
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