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Funding Local Government: Use (and Abuse) of P eru's Canon System
Author(s) -
CRABTREE JOHN
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
bulletin of latin american research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.24
H-Index - 33
eISSN - 1470-9856
pISSN - 0261-3050
DOI - 10.1111/blar.12174
Subject(s) - clientelism , decentralization , devolution (biology) , incentive , government (linguistics) , language change , public administration , revenue , local government , democracy , civil servants , political science , political economy , economics , sociology , law , market economy , finance , politics , art , linguistics , philosophy , literature , anthropology , human evolution
While decentralisation, properly understood, implies that sub‐national government involves devolution of authority over revenues, recent experience from P eru suggests that the canon system tends to create perverse incentives in encouraging open and democratic government at the local level. This is particularly the case in regions such as C usco, which benefit disproportionately from this system. Examination of experiences in four provinces of C usco shows how – in the absence of a robust civil society – excessive funding tends to encourage clientelism and corruption rather than accountable and transparent administration.