Are Neighbors Equal? Estimating Local Inequality in Three Developing Countries

ne important strand of research in the area of political economy and public policy has focused on the appropriate level of governmental decentralization for financial and decisionmaking power regarding public service provisioning and financing.The advantage of decentralization-making use of better community-level information about priorities and the characteristics of residents-may be offset by a greater likelihood that the local governing body is controlled by "elites" to the detriment of weaker community members.