Does Participatory Budgeting Improve Decentralized Public Service Delivery?
Description
This
paper provides the first experimental evaluation of the participatory budgeting
model showing that it increased public participation in the process of public
decision making, increased local tax revenues collection, channeled larger fractions
of public budgets to services stated as top priorities by citizens, and increased
satisfaction levels with public services. These effects, however, were found
only when the model was implemented in already-mature administratively and
politically decentralized local governments. The findings highlight the importance
of initial conditions with respect to the decentralization context for the success
of participatory governance.
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