Maria Teresa Balaguer-Coll
Biographic Data
| ID | 1522588 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Maria Teresa Balaguer-Coll |
| GIVEN NAMES | Maria Teresa |
| FAMILY NAME | Balaguer-Coll |
| SIGNATURE | BALAGUER-COLL M T |
| AFFILIATIONS | Universitat Jaume I |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-2126-0963 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 9 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 27 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 9 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2010 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
Vertical Transfers, Political Alignment, and Efficiency in Local Government
When decentralized governments share the public budget, distributive policies are needed to allocate public goods and services among them. To date, however, both the theoretical and empirical literature has largely examined the effect of political orientation on the quantity of transfers received, without considering how efficiently they are managed. This article aims to fill this gap by linking the literature on political alignment and transfers…
On the Relative Contributions of National and Regional Institutions to Economic Development
Institutional quality is recognized as a fundamental driver of long‐run growth (Acemoglu et al. 2005) and it has been widely studied at both country and regional levels in the economic growth literature. Nevertheless, the literature is scant on the question of how this relationship behaves when the hierarchical structure of regions and countries is considered. To fill this gap, we propose a novel approach to the question, relying on multilevel ec…
Politics Versus Economics
The relationship between fiscal autonomy and regional economic outcomes is a critical question in political science and the study of federalism. This article examines how Spain’s asymmetric fiscal system has shaped regional inequality, focusing on two opposing cases: the Basque Country, which enjoys significant fiscal autonomy through the 2002 Basque Economic Agreement, and the Valencian Community, persistently underfunded under the 2001 common f…
Quality of government and economic growth at the municipal level
This paper analyzes the relationship between government efficiency—an important dimension of quality of government—and economic growth at the municipal level in 1,820 Spanish municipalities during the period 2008–2015. At this level of disaggregation, the literature is virtually nonexistent due to severe data constraints. The efficiency of local government provides an accurate indicator of how good local authorities are in managing their budget. …
The effects of the political environment on transparency
This article analyzes the evolution of economic and financial transparency in Spanish local governments (LGs) and their determining factors. The main results show that the level of financial disclosure seems to be the result of pressure from, on the one hand, opposition groups when there is rivalry and political competition, and, on the other hand, the increased demands of citizens involved in public affairs, who want to know how the government i…
Explaining local governments' cost efficiency
Searching for the optimal territorial structure
Modern states are organized in multilevel governance structures with economic and political authorities dispersed across them. However, although there is relatively widespread consensus that this form of organization is preferable to a centralized authority, the same cannot be said about its jurisdictional design – that is, how to transfer authority from central states to both supra- and subnational levels. This lack of consensus also exists in c…
Evaluating local government performance in times of crisis
In recent years, Spanish local governments have come under increasing pressure to accommodate severe economic restrictions while maintaining their \nprovision of local public services. We analyse overall cost efficiency in Spanish \nlocal governments during the period of the economic crisis (2008–2013), \nunder four different non-parametric methodologies. Moreover, given how \nproblematic it is to precisely define what municipalities do, we compa…
Devolution Dynamics of Spanish Local Government
Over the last few years, there has been a devolutionary tendency in many developed and developing countries. In this paper we propose a methodology to decompose whether the benefits in terms of efficiency derived from transfers of powers from higher to municipal levels of government (the 'economic dividend' of devolution) might increase over time. This methodology is based on linear programming approaches for efficiency measurement. We provide an…
Evaluating local government performance in times of crisis
In recent years, Spanish local governments have come under increasing pressure to accommodate severe economic restrictions while maintaining their \nprovision of local public services. We analyse overall cost efficiency in Spanish \nlocal governments during the period of the economic crisis (2008–2013), \nunder four different non-parametric methodologies. Moreover, given how \nproblematic it is to precisely define what municipalities do, we compa…
Explaining local governments' cost efficiency
Devolution Dynamics of Spanish Local Government
Over the last few years, there has been a devolutionary tendency in many developed and developing countries. In this paper we propose a methodology to decompose whether the benefits in terms of efficiency derived from transfers of powers from higher to municipal levels of government (the 'economic dividend' of devolution) might increase over time. This methodology is based on linear programming approaches for efficiency measurement. We provide an…
Searching for the optimal territorial structure
Modern states are organized in multilevel governance structures with economic and political authorities dispersed across them. However, although there is relatively widespread consensus that this form of organization is preferable to a centralized authority, the same cannot be said about its jurisdictional design – that is, how to transfer authority from central states to both supra- and subnational levels. This lack of consensus also exists in c…
The effects of the political environment on transparency
This article analyzes the evolution of economic and financial transparency in Spanish local governments (LGs) and their determining factors. The main results show that the level of financial disclosure seems to be the result of pressure from, on the one hand, opposition groups when there is rivalry and political competition, and, on the other hand, the increased demands of citizens involved in public affairs, who want to know how the government i…
Devolution Dynamics of Spanish Local Government
Over the last few years, there has been a devolutionary tendency in many developed and developing countries. In this paper we propose a methodology to decompose whether the benefits in terms of efficiency derived from transfers of powers from higher to municipal levels of government (the 'economic dividend' of devolution) might increase over time. This methodology is based on linear programming approaches for efficiency measurement. We provide an…
Evaluating local government performance in times of crisis
In recent years, Spanish local governments have come under increasing pressure to accommodate severe economic restrictions while maintaining their \nprovision of local public services. We analyse overall cost efficiency in Spanish \nlocal governments during the period of the economic crisis (2008–2013), \nunder four different non-parametric methodologies. Moreover, given how \nproblematic it is to precisely define what municipalities do, we compa…
Explaining local governments' cost efficiency
Searching for the optimal territorial structure
Modern states are organized in multilevel governance structures with economic and political authorities dispersed across them. However, although there is relatively widespread consensus that this form of organization is preferable to a centralized authority, the same cannot be said about its jurisdictional design – that is, how to transfer authority from central states to both supra- and subnational levels. This lack of consensus also exists in c…
The effects of the political environment on transparency
This article analyzes the evolution of economic and financial transparency in Spanish local governments (LGs) and their determining factors. The main results show that the level of financial disclosure seems to be the result of pressure from, on the one hand, opposition groups when there is rivalry and political competition, and, on the other hand, the increased demands of citizens involved in public affairs, who want to know how the government i…
Quality of government and economic growth at the municipal level
This paper analyzes the relationship between government efficiency—an important dimension of quality of government—and economic growth at the municipal level in 1,820 Spanish municipalities during the period 2008–2015. At this level of disaggregation, the literature is virtually nonexistent due to severe data constraints. The efficiency of local government provides an accurate indicator of how good local authorities are in managing their budget. …
On the Relative Contributions of National and Regional Institutions to Economic Development
Institutional quality is recognized as a fundamental driver of long‐run growth (Acemoglu et al. 2005) and it has been widely studied at both country and regional levels in the economic growth literature. Nevertheless, the literature is scant on the question of how this relationship behaves when the hierarchical structure of regions and countries is considered. To fill this gap, we propose a novel approach to the question, relying on multilevel ec…
Politics Versus Economics
The relationship between fiscal autonomy and regional economic outcomes is a critical question in political science and the study of federalism. This article examines how Spain’s asymmetric fiscal system has shaped regional inequality, focusing on two opposing cases: the Basque Country, which enjoys significant fiscal autonomy through the 2002 Basque Economic Agreement, and the Valencian Community, persistently underfunded under the 2001 common f…
Vertical Transfers, Political Alignment, and Efficiency in Local Government
When decentralized governments share the public budget, distributive policies are needed to allocate public goods and services among them. To date, however, both the theoretical and empirical literature has largely examined the effect of political orientation on the quantity of transfers received, without considering how efficiently they are managed. This article aims to fill this gap by linking the literature on political alignment and transfers…
Economics (8 works) · Local Government Finance and Decentralization (8 works) · Fiscal Policy and Economic Growth (7 works) · Local government (7 works) · Political science (7 works) · Fiscal Policies and Political Economy (6 works) · Public economics (6 works) · Public Administration (5 works) · Business (4 works) · Politics (4 works)