How Fares Federalism in the Mid-Seventies?

David B. Walker
Additional contact information
David B. Walker: Governmental Structure and Functions, Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations

The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 1974, vol. 416, issue 1, 17-31

Abstract: American federalism and the intergovernmental relations that sustain it are in a major transitional period. The recent emergence of several different theories—es pecially Creative Federalism and New Federalism—are symptomatic; yet neither of these schools of thought were applied consistently, nor were they in conflict with each other in all instances. Moreover, neither provides helpful answers to some of the emerging problems confronting the system. The many changes in fiscal federalism are another dimension of this transition. The federal govern ment still plays a dominant role in economic affairs, but a reduced one in intergovernmental financial assistance. Most states have strengthened their revenue systems, are enjoying surpluses or balanced budgets, and are beginning to act like major fiscal middlemen. All levels now have large intergovernmental components in their budgets, making fiscal relations more interdependent than ever before. Ad ministratively and jurisdictionally, a number of myths have emerged that impede the management of the system's current business. These include such notions as: all categorical grants have similar operational traits, block grants are easy to administer, decentralization is devolution, devolu tion of authority to elected officials is a simple under taking, local governmental fragmentation preserves local autonomy, and all general units of local government are general governments. A clearer understanding of the sources of conceptual confusion, a greater awareness of the new features of fiscal federalism, and a better appreciation of current administrative and jurisdictional conditions are vital for policy makers at all levels.

Date: 1974
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/000271627441600103 (text/html)

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:sae:anname:v:416:y:1974:i:1:p:17-31

DOI: 10.1177/000271627441600103

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science
Bibliographic data for series maintained by SAGE Publications ().