The impact of fiscal decentralization on economic growth of regions of the Russian Federation

Abstract

One of the priority goals for the state policy is ensuring sustainable economic growth. The theory of fiscal federalism argues that fiscal decentralization fosters both regional and national economic development by providing the opportunity to coordinate regional needs and national policy goals. The purpose of the study is to assess the impact of fiscal decentralization on the economic development of Russian regions. The analysis was conducted with panel data for 83 regions for the period 1996–2019. The simultaneous quantile regression approach with bootstrapping standard error was used for econometric modelling. The results of the study show that fiscal decentralization does not contribute to the economic development of more prosperous regions of the Russian Federation, whereas in less developed regions, fiscal decentralization indicators have a significant negative effect on the gross regional product per capita. Based on the results obtained, proposals aimed at improving state policies were made.