Shine a (night)light: decentralization and economic development in Burkina Faso

Décentralisation et développement économique au Burkina Faso: un éclairage (nocturne)

Olivier Bargain (), Rose Camille Vincent () and Emilie Caldeira ()
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Olivier Bargain: UB - Université de Bordeaux, IUF - Institut universitaire de France - M.E.N.E.S.R. - Ministère de l'Education nationale, de l’Enseignement supérieur et de la Recherche
Rose Camille Vincent: D-MTEC - Department of Management, Technology, and Economics [ETH Zürich] - ETH Zürich - Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule - Swiss Federal Institute of Technology [Zürich], U.S.E. - Utrecht School of Economics - Universiteit Utrecht / Utrecht University [Utrecht]
Emilie Caldeira: CERDI - Centre d'Études et de Recherches sur le Développement International - IRD - Institut de Recherche pour le Développement - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - UCA - Université Clermont Auvergne

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Abstract: Decentralization, championed by international institutions, has been one of the most prominent public sector reforms of the last decades, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. To date, few studies propose a quasi-experimental evaluation of its capacity to contribute to local development. We exploit the phase-in of decentralization at the commune level in Burkina Faso. We use satellite information on night-time light density as a proxy for local development levels, which has the advantage of being measured and comparable over time and space. The communes that were decentralized first can be compared to the others after the reform relative to the pre-reform situation. The difference-in-difference approach includes commune fixed effects and inverse propensity score reweighting to account for time-varying differences across communes. We find a positive impact of decentralization on the night-light intensity trends of the early-decentralized communes. This is supported by alternative measures (remote sensing of built-up settlements and a welfare index), which shows the possibly broader scope of decentralization gains. We show that decentralization did not lift all boats: only the communes with the ability to generate own-source revenues benefited from effective decentralization.

Keywords: Economic development; Local development; Africa; Burkina Faso; Decentralization; Décentralisation; Développement économique; Gouvernance locale; Afrique (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025-01-20
Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://uca.hal.science/hal-05088873v1
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Published in 2025

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