Understanding territorial inequalities in decentralised welfare systems: early childhood education and care system expansion in Croatia

Ivana Dobrotic () and Teo Matkovic ()
Additional contact information
Ivana Dobrotic: University of Zagreb, Faculty of Law, Department of Social Work, Social Policy Unit, Zagreb, Croatia
Teo Matkovic: Institute for Social Research in Zagreb, Centre for Educational Research and Development,Zagreb, Croatia

Public Sector Economics, 2023, vol. 47, issue 1, 89-110

Abstract: The decentralised provision of social services raises concerns about availability of services in different geographical areas, particularly in low- and middle-income countries with weak governance and fiscal redistributive capacities. Yet the interconnection of different decentralisation regimes and territorial inequalities in the provision of social services remains underexplored. This article engages with one aspect of this puzzle, the implications of the fiscal conditions on exacerbating (or overcoming) territorial inequalities in services provision. Using the Croatian system of early childhood education and care (data for the 2005-2018 period) as an empirical lens, the article shows that in the absence of a well-established policy and fiscal framework sensitive to regional inequalities in administrative and fiscal capacities, decentralised systems can only institutionalise territorial inequalities in services provision. Next to the legal entitlement to a certain service, inter-territorial fiscal equalisation policies are crucial in overcoming fragmentation in social rights along territorial lines.

Keywords: early childhood education and care; decentralisation; devolution; local welfare systems; territorial inequalities; fiscal decentralisation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H39 H75 I22 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://pse-journal.hr/upload/files/pse/2023/1/dobrotic_matkovic.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ipf:psejou:v:47:y:2023:i:1:p:89-110

DOI: 10.3326/pse.47.1.4

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Public Sector Economics from Institute of Public Finance Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Martina Fabris ().