Decentralisation outcomes: a review of evidence and analysis of international data

The government has embarked on a radical policy of decentralisation in England, which has been termed ‘localism’. Decentralisation from superior to lower tiers of government is a global trend. The government’s approach has a particular character in this context in seeking decentralisation both to the lowest tiers of government and away from government to the individual. The localism agenda is also linked to proposals aiming to increase the rate of local economic growth, rebalancing the economy in sectoral and spatial terms and promoting wellbeing in England. This rapidly evolving policy agenda is based upon principles that are challenging to test rigorously and examine empirically. In principle, the government’s approach is a particular form of decentralisation that has radical and experimental characteristics and is distinct from the kinds of decentralisation that have been tried and tested elsewhere internationally. The current study aims to consider the international evidence about the impacts of decentralisation. It seeks to identify systematically the arguments concerning the social and economic impacts of decentralisation and articulate key issues relevant to the policy debate.