Share:


Towards a comprehensive evaluation of decentralization: a multidimensional insight of OECD countries

Abstract

The present paper introduces a novel methodology for analyzing decentralization across three dimensions: political, administrative, and fiscal. Considering the challenges in determining the degree of decentralization, we have constructed synthetic measures for assessing political (MPD), administrative (MAD), and fiscal (MFD) decentralization employing the TOPSIS method (Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to an Ideal Solution). The use of this method allowed the creation of a linear rank of OECD countries. Furthermore, on the basis of constructed synthetic measures and utilizing the k-means clustering method, we also constructed a non-linear grouping of those countries. This approach enabled us to achieve the final objective of our research, the revelation of varied interrelationships among the different dimensions of decentralization in selected OECD countries. The combined application of the TOPSIS and the k-means methods enhances the methodology for analyzing decentralization by offering a multidimensional perspective. Given the potential repercussions of negative outcomes, such as overt or covert centralization, the findings of our study could turn out to be of significant relevance.


First published online 10 July 2024

Keyword : local government, decentralization, multidimensionality, TOPSIS, k-means

How to Cite
Poniatowicz, M., Konopka, P., & Piekutowska, A. (2024). Towards a comprehensive evaluation of decentralization: a multidimensional insight of OECD countries. Technological and Economic Development of Economy, 30(6), 1652–1681. https://doi.org/10.3846/tede.2024.21518
Published in Issue
Nov 6, 2024
Abstract Views
515
PDF Downloads
430
Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

References

Agrawal, A., & Ribot, J. (1999). Making decentralization accountable: A framework for analysis and empirical studies from South Asia and West Africa. The Journal of Developing Areas, 33, 473–490.

Ahmad, E., & Brosio, G. (2006). Handbook of fiscal federalism. Edward Elgar Publishing. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781847201515

Akai, N., Nishimura, Y., & Sakata, M. (2007). Complementarity, fiscal decentralization and economic growth. Economics of Governance, 8, 339–362. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10101-007-0032-5

Andrews, M., & Shah, A. (2003). Assessing local government performance in developing countries. In A. Shah (Ed.), Handbook on public sector performance reviews: Vol. 2. Measuring government performance in the delivery of public services. The World Bank.

Bardhan, P. (2002). Decentralization of governance and development. The Journal of Economic Perspectives, 16(4), 185–205. https://doi.org/10.1257/089533002320951037

Bąk, A. (2013). Metody porządkowania liniowego w polskiej taksonomii – pakiet pllord [Linear ordering methods in Polish taxonomy – pllord package]. In K. Jajuga & M. Walesiak (Eds.). Taksonomia 20. Klasyfikacja i analiza danych – teoria i zastosowania (pp. 54–62). Research papers of Wrocław University of Economics. https://www.dbc.wroc.pl/dlibra/publication/27221/edition/24613?language=pl

Behzadian, M., Otaghsara, S. K., Yazdani, M., & Ignatius, J. (2012). A State-of the-art survey of TOPSIS applications. Expert Systems with Applications, 39(17), 13051–13069. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eswa.2012.05.056

Bergh, S. (2004). Democratic decentralisation and local participation: A review of recent research. Development in Practice, 14(6), 780–790. https://doi.org/10.1080/0961452042000284012

Bieniasz, A., Gołaś, Z., & Łuczak, A. (2012). Ocena kondycji finansowej przemysłu spożywczego w Polsce w latach 2005–2010 [Assessment of the financial condition of the food industry in Poland in 2005–2010]. Zeszyty Teoretyczne Rachunkowości, 67(123), 7–31.

Bird, R. M., & Vaillancourt, F. (2008). Fiscal decentralization in developing countries. Cambridge University Press.

Blöchliger, H. (2013). Decentralisation and economic growth – Part 1: How fiscal federalism affects long-term development (Working Paper No. 14). OECD Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1787/5k4559gx1q8r-en

Boadway, R., & Keen, M. (2000). Redistribution. In A. Atkinson & F. Bourguignon (Eds.), Handbook of income distribution (vol. 1, pp. 677–789). Elsevier. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1574-0056(00)80015-9

Boadway, R. W., & Shah, A. (2009). Fiscal federalism. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511626883

Bodman, P., & Ford, K. (2006). Fiscal federalism and economic growth in the OECD (MRG Discussion Paper Series, No. 7). Brisbane, Australia. Macroeconomics Research Group.

Bojanic, A. N. (2023). Tying decentralization and income redistribution to fight corruption: Empirical evidence from developed and developing countries. Frontiers in Applied Mathematics and Statistics, 8, Article 1099553. https://doi.org/10.3389/fams.2022.1099553

Bojanic, A. N., & Collins, L. A. (2021). Differential effects of decentralization on income inequality: Evidence from developed and developing countries. Empirical Economics, 60(4), 1969–2004. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00181-019-01813-2

Bottani, E., & Rizzi, A. (2006). A fuzzy TOPSIS methodology to support outsourcing of logistics services. Supply Chain Management, 11(4), 294–308. https://doi.org/10.1108/13598540610671743

Brancati, D. (2008). Peace by design: Managing intrastate conflict THROUGH decentralization. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199549009.001.0001

Buchanan, J. M. (2008). Federalism and fiscal equity. The American Economic Review, 40(4), 583–599.

Cheema, G. S., & Rondinelli, D. A. (2007). Decentralizing governance: Emerging concepts and practices. Ash Institute for Democratic Governance and Innovation. John F. Kennedy School of Government Harvard University, Brooking Institution Press, Washington, D.C.

Chhibber, P., & Kollman, K. (2004). The formation of national party systems: Federalism and party competition in Canada. Princeton University Press.

Coppedge, M., Gerring, J., Knutsen, C. H., Lindberg, S. I., Teorell, J., Alizada, N., Altman, D., Bernhard, M., Cornell, A., Fish, M. S., Gastaldi, L., Gjerløw, H., Glynn, A., Hicken, A., Hindle, G., Ilchenko, N., Krusell, J., Lührmann, A., Maerz, S. F…, Ziblatt. D. (2021). V-Dem Dataset v11.1. Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) Project. SSRN. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3831905

De Souza, L. P., Gomes, C. F. S., & De Barros, A. P. (2018). Implementation of new hybrid AHP–TOPSIS-2N method in sorting and prioritizing of an it CAPEX project portfolio. International Journal of Information Technology & Decision Making, 17(4), 977–1005. https://doi.org/10.1142/S0219622018500207

Dillinger, W., & Fay, M. (1999). From centralized to decentralized governance. Finance and Development, 36(4).

Dickovick, J. T., & Eaton, K. H. (2013). Latin America’s resurgent centre: National government strategies after decentralisation. Journal of Development Studies, 49(11), 1453–1466. https://doi.org/10.1080/00220388.2013.797073

Ebel, R. D., & Yilmaz, S. (2002). On the measurement and impact of fiscal decentralization (Policy Research Working Paper No. 2809). The World Bank. https://doi.org/10.1596/1813-9450-2809

Erkoreka, M., & Hernando-Pérez, J. (2023). Decentralization: A handicap in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic? The response of the regional governments in Spain. Public Administration and Development, 43(2), 129–140. https://doi.org/10.1002/pad.1988

Faguet, J. P. (2014). Decentralization and governance. World Development, 53, 2–13. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2013.01.002

Falleti, T. G. (2010). Decentralization and subnational politics in Latin America. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511777813

Fisman, R., & Gatti, R. (2002). Decentralization and corruption: Evidence across countries. Journal of Public Economics, 83(3), 325–345. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0047-2727(00)00158-4

Fung, A., & Wright, E. O. (Eds.). (2003). Deepening democracy: Institutional innovations in empowered participatory governance. Verso.

Gisselquist, R. M. (2012). Good governance as a concept, and why this matters for development policy (Working Paper No. 30). The United Nations University, World Institute for Development Economics Research, Helsinki. https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/81039/1/688432662.pdf

Goldsmith, M. J., & Page, E. C. (Eds.). (2010). Changing government relations in Europe: From localism to intergovernmentalism (1st ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203858486

Gong, Q., Liu, C., & Wu, M. (2021). Does administrative decentralization enhance economic growth? Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment in China. Economic Modelling, 94, 945–952. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.econmod.2020.02.035

Harguindéguy, J. B. P., Cole, A., & Pasquier, R. (2021). The variety of decentralization indexes: A review of the literature. Regional & Federal Studies, 31(2), 185–208. https://doi.org/10.1080/13597566.2019.1566126

Hartigan, J. A. (1972). Direct clustering of a data matrix. Journal of the American Statistical Association, 67(337), 123–129. https://doi.org/10.1080/01621459.1972.10481214

Hellwig, Z. (1968). Zastosowanie metody taksonomicznej do typologicznego podziału kraju ze względu na poziom rozwoju oraz zasoby i strukturę wykwalifikowanych kadr [Application of the taxonomic method to the typological division of the country according to the level of development as well as the resources and structure of qualified staff]. Przegląd Statystyczny, 4, 307–326.

Hooghe, L., & Marks, G. (2003). Unraveling the Central State, but how? Types of multi-level governance. American Political Science Review, 97(2), 233–243. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003055403000649

Hooghe, L., Marks, G. N., & Schakel, A. H. (2010). The rise of regional authority: A comparative study of 42 democracies (1950–2006). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203852170

Hwang, C. L., & Yoon, K. (1981). Multiple attribute decision making: Methods and applications a state-of-the-art survey. Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-48318-9

Inman, R. P., & Rubinfeld, D. L. (1997). Rethinking federalism. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 11(4), 43–64. https://doi.org/10.1257/jep.11.4.43

Ivanyna, M., & Shah, A. (2014). How close is your government to its people? Worldwide indicators on localization and decentralization. Economics, 8, 1–61. https://doi.org/10.5018/economics-ejournal.ja.2014-3

Iwacewicz-Orłowska, A., Sokołowska, D. (2017). Ranking państw Unii Europejskiej ze względu na wartość wskaźników ładu gospodarczego w latach 2010 i 2014 przy wykorzystaniu metody Hellwiga i analizy skupień [Ranking of EU countries in terms of economic governance indicators in years 2010 and 2014: Hellwig’s method and cluster analysis]. Optimum. Economic Studies, 4(88), 245–265. https://doi.org/10.15290/ose.2017.04.88.18

Jin, J., & Zou, H. F. (2002). How does fiscal decentralization affect aggregate, national, and subnational government size? Journal of Urban Economics, 52(2), 270–293. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0094-1190(02)00004-9

Konopka, P. (2021). Metody wielokryterialnego podejmowania decyzji w badaniu ryzyka finansowania przedsiębiorstw [Multi-criteria decision-making methods in examining the risk of financing enterprises]. Publishing House of the University of Białystok.

Kosek-Wojnar, M., & Surówka, K. (2007). Podstawy finansów samorządu terytorialnego [Basics of local government finances]. PWN Scientific Publishing House.

Ladner, A., Keuffer, N., & Baldersheim, H. (2016). Measuring local autonomy in 39 countries (1990–2014). Regional & Federal Studies, 26(3), 321–357. https://doi.org/10.1080/13597566.2016.1214911

Lessmann, C. (2012). Regional inequality and decentralization: An empirical analysis. Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space, 44(6), 1363–1388. https://doi.org/10.1068/a44267

Litvack, J., Ahmad, J., & Bird, R. M. (1998). Rethinking decentralization in developing countries. The World Bank. https://doi.org/10.1596/0-8213-4350-5

Lockwood, B., & Barankay, I. (2006). Decentralization and the productive efficiency of government: Evidence from Swiss cantons (CEPR Discussion Paper No. 5639). SSRN. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.950926

MacQueen, J. (1967, June 21–July 18). Some Methods for Classification and Analysis of Multivariate Observations. In Proceedings of the 5th Berkeley Symposium on Mathematical Statistics and Probability (pp. 281–297). California, Berkeley. University of California Press. https://projecteuclid.org/ebooks/berkeley-symposium-on-mathematical-statistics-and-probability/Some-methods-for-classification-and-analysis-of-multivariate-observations/chapter/Some-methods-for-classification-and-analysis-of-multivariate-observations/bsmsp/1200512992

Mahmoodzadeh, S., Shahrabi, J., Pariazar, M., Zaeri, M. S. (2007). Project selection by using fuzzy AHP and TOPSIS technique. International Journal of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering, 1(6), 270–275.

Malina, A. (2020). Analiza przestrzennego zróżnicowania poziomu rozwoju społeczno-gospodarczego województw Polski w latach 2005–2017 [Analysis of the spatial differentiation of the level of socio-economic development of Poland’s provinces in 2005–2017]. Nierówności Społeczne a Wzrost Gospodarczy, 61, 138–155. https://doi.org/10.15584/nsawg.2020.1.10

Manor, J. (1999). The political economy of democratic decentralization. The World Bank. https://doi.org/10.1596/0-8213-4470-6

Martinez-Vazquez, J. (2001). Making fiscal decentralization work in Vietnam, Georgia State University, Andrew Young School of Policy Studies (Working Paper 05-13). Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, Georgia State University.

Martinez-Vazquez, J., & McNab, R. M. (2003). Fiscal decentralization and economic growth. World Development, 31(9), 1597–1616. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0305-750X(03)00109-8

Martinez-Vazquez, J., & Timofeev, A. (2009). A fiscal perspective of state rescaling. Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, 2(1), 85–105. https://doi.org/10.1093/cjres/rsn027

Meloche, J. P., Vaillancourt, F., & Yilmaz, S. (2004). Decentralization or fiscal autonomy? What does really matter? Effects on growth and public sector size in European transition countries. (Working Paper No. 3254). World Bank Group. http://library1.nida.ac.th/worldbankf/fulltext/wps03254.pdf

Migała-Warchoł, A. (2011). Wykorzystanie analizy skupień do klasyfikacji powiatów województwa podkarpackiego według wybranych wskaźników rozwoju społeczno-gospodarczego [The usage of cluster analysis to classification of districts of podkarpackie voivodeship according to selected socio-economic development indicators]. Metody Ilościowe w Badaniach Ekonomicznych, 12(2), 249–258.

Musgrave, R. A. (1959). The theory of public finance: A Study in public economy. McGraw-Hill. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-23426-4

Musgrave, R. A., & Musgrave, P. B. (1989). Public finance in theory and practice. McGraw-Hill.

O’Leary, R., & Vij, N. (2012). Collaborative public management: Where have we been and where are we going? The American Review of Public Administration, 42(5), 507–522. https://doi.org/10.1177/0275074012445780

Oates, W. E. (1972). Fiscal federalism. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. https://archive.org/details/fiscalfederalism0000oate/page/n5/mode/2up

Oates, W. E. (1999). An essay on fiscal federalism. Journal of Economic Literature, 37(3), 1120–1149. https://doi.org/10.1257/jel.37.3.1120

Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. (2019). Making decentralisation work: A handbook for policy-makers. OECD multi-level governance studies. OECD Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1787/g2g9faa7-en

Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. (n.d.). Subnational governments in OECD countries: Key data. https://stats.oecd.org/Index.aspx?DataSetCode=SNGF

Papada, E., Altman, D., Angiolillo, F., Gastaldi, L., Köhler, T., Lundstedt, M., Natsika, N., Nord, M., Sato, Y., Wiebrecht, F., & Lindberg, S. I. (2023). Defiance in the face of autocratization. Democracy Report 2023 (V-Dem working paper). V-Dem Institute, University of Gothenburg. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4560857

Parker, S. (Ed.) (2009). More than good ideas: The power of innovation in local government. Nesta. https://youngfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/More-than-good-ideas-the-power-of-innovation-in-local-government-March-2009.pdf

Pereira, D. A. D. M., Dos Santos, M., Costa, I. P. D. A., Moreira, M. Â. L., Terra, A. V., Junior, C. D. S. R., & Gomes, C. F. S. (2022). Multicriteria and statistical approach to support the outranking analysis of the OECD countries. IEEE Access, 10. https://doi.org/10.1109/ACCESS.2022.3187001

Pérez-Ortega, J., Almanza-Ortega, N. N., Vega-Villalobos, A., Pazos-Rangel, R., Zavala-Díaz, C. & Martínez-Rebollar, A. (2020). The k-means algorithm evolution. In K. Sud, P. Erdogmus, & S. Kadry (Eds.), Introduction to data science and machine learning. IntechOpen. https://doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.85447

Piekara, A. (1995). Decentralizacja i samorządność społeczności lokalnych a lokalna jakość życia [Decentralization and self-government of local communities and the local quality of life]. Samorząd Terytorialny, 5.

Piekutowska, A. (2023). Współczesny protekcjonizm w międzynarodowym handlu towarami [Contemporary protectionism in international trade in goods]. Publishing House of the University of Białystok.

Pietrovito, F., Pozzolo, A. F., Resce, G., & Scialà, A. (2023). Fiscal decentralization and income (re)distribution in OECD countries’ regions. Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, 67, 69–81. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.strueco.2023.07.002

Pietrzykowski, R., & Kobus, P. (2008). Wielowymiarowe metody statystyczne w analizie wyników ekonomiczno-produkcyjnych gospodarstw rolnych wybranych państw Unii Europejskiej [Multivariate statistical methods in analysis of production and economic results of agricultural holdings in the EU countries]. Problems of World Agriculture, 4(19), 371–378. https://doi.org/10.22630/PRS.2008.4.49

Poniatowicz, M. (2018). Koncepcja federalizmu fiskalnego w systemie finansów samorządu terytorialnego [The concept of fiscal federalism in the local government finance system]. CeDeWu.

Prud’homme, R. (1995). The dangers of decentralization. The World Bank Research Observer, 10(2), 201–220. https://doi.org/10.1093/wbro/10.2.201

Putnam, R. D., Leonardi, R., & Nanetti, R. Y. (1992). Making democracy work: Civic traditions in modern Italy. Princeton University Press.

Robinson, M. (2007). Does decentralisation improve equity and efficiency in public service delivery provision? IDS Bulletin, 38(1), 7–17. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1759-5436.2007.tb00333.x

Rodden, J. (2005). Hamilton’s paradox: The promise and peril of fiscal federalism. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511616075

Rodden, J. (2004). Comparative federalism and decentralization: On meaning and measurement. Comparative Politics, 36(4), 481–500. https://doi.org/10.2307/4150172

Rodden, J. (2002). The dilemma of fiscal federalism: Grants and fiscal performance around the world. American Journal of Political Science, 46(3), 670–687. https://doi.org/10.2307/3088407

Rodden, J., Eskeland, G. S., & Litvack, J. (Eds.). (2003). Fiscal decentralization and the challenge of hard budget constraints. MIT Press. https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/3021.001.0001

Rodríguez-Pose, A., & Ezcurra, R. (2010). Does decentralization matter for regional disparities? A cross-country analysis. Journal of Economic Geography, 10(5), 619–644. https://doi.org/10.1093/jeg/lbp049

Rondinelli, D. A., & Cheema, G. S. (Eds.) (2003). Reinventing government for the twenty-first century: State capacity in a globalizing society. Kumarian Press.

Rondinelli, D. A., Nellis, J. R., & Cheema, G. S. (1983). Decentralization in developing countries: A review of recent experience (Working paper No. 581). World Bank Group.

Roszkowska, E. (2013). Analiza procesu negocjacji z wykorzystaniem procedury TOPSIS [The application of TOPSIS procedure to the analysis of the negotiation process]. Studia Ekonomiczne, 138, 95–108. https://cejsh.icm.edu.pl/cejsh/element/bwmeta1.element.desklight-4b03f298-08e6-4803-a6b3-e91a22cce634

Roszkowska, E., Brzostowski, J., & Wachowicz, T. (2013). Szacowanie wag zagadnień negocjacyjnych na podstawie metod wielokryterialnych [Estimating the weights of negotiation issues based on multi-criteria methods] In W. Sikora (Ed.), Metody i zastosowania badań operacyjnych w gospodarce, finansach i szkolnictwie wyższym. Poznan University of Economics.

Roszkowska, E., Misiewicz, E. I., & Karwowska, R. (2014). Analiza poziomu zrównoważonego rozwoju województw Polski w 2010 roku [The analysis of level of sustainable development in Polish regions in year 2010]. Economics and Environment, 2(49), 168–190.

Ruśkowski, E. (2018). Finanse publiczne i prawo finansowe. Instrumenty prawnofinansowe i warunki stosowania [Public finance and financial law. Legal and financial instruments and condition of their use]. Temida 2.

Sagan, A., Webb, E., Rajan, D., Karanikolos M., & Greer, S. L. (2021). Health system resilience during the pandemic: It’s mostly about governance. Eurohealth, 27(1), 10–15. https://iris.who.int/bitstream/handle/10665/344959/Eurohealth-27-1-10-15-eng.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

Schneider, A. (2003). Decentralization: Conceptualization and measurement. Studies in Comparative International Development, 38, 32–56. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02686198

Sepulveda, C. & Martinez-Vazquez, J. (2011). The consequences of fiscal decentralization on poverty and income equality. Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy, 29(2), 321–343. https://doi.org/10.1068/c1033r

Shah, A. (2007). Participatory budgeting. World Bank Group. https://doi.org/10.1596/978-0-8213-6923-4

Shah, A. (2006). Corruption and decentralized public governance. In E. Ahmad & G. Brosio (Eds.), Handbook of fiscal federalism (pp. 478–498). Edward Elgar Publishing. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781847201515.00029

Sharma, C. K. (2006). Decentralization dilemma: Measuring the degree and evaluating the outcomes. The Indian Journal of Political Science, 67(1), 49–64. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=955113

Shrestha, K., Martinez-Vazquez, J., & Hankla, C. (2021). Political decentralization and corruption: Exploring the conditional role of parties (Working paper 21-09). International Center for Public Policy. https://icepp.gsu.edu/files/2021/11/21-09-Decentralization-and-Corruption_v2.pdf

Sieklucki, D. (2022). Decentralizacja – podstawowe zagadnienia teoretyczne [Decentralization – basic theoretical issues]. Politeja, 2(77), 19–33. https://doi.org/10.12797/Politeja.19.2022.77.01

Silva, M. D. C., Gomes, C. F. S., & Souza, R. C. (2020). TOPSIS-2NE’s proposal. International Journal of Fuzzy Systems, 22, 1118–1122. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40815-020-00871-4

Silva, M. D. C., Gomes, C. F. S., & Costa Junior, C. L. D. (2018). A hybrid multicriteria methodology Topsis-Macbeth-2n applied in the ordering of technology transfer offices. Pesquisa Operacional, 38(3), 413–439. https://doi.org/10.1590/0101-7438.2018.038.03.0413

Smoke, P. (2001). Fiscal decentralization in developing countries: A review of current concepts and practice (Democracy, Governance and Human Rights Programme Paper No. 2). United Nations Research Institute for Social Development. https://www.files.ethz.ch/isn/45958/2.pdf

Smoke, P. (2003). Decentralisation in Africa: Goals, dimensions, myths and challenges. Public Administration and Development: The International Journal of Management Research and Practice, 23(1), 7–16. https://doi.org/10.1002/pad.255

Steinhaus, H. (1956). Sur la division des corps matériels en parties [On the division of material bodies into parties]. Bulletin de l’Académie Polonaise des Sciences, 4(12), 801–804.

Talamo, G. (2012). A critical analysis of public administration reform and risk of corruption and crimes. SSRN. https://ssrn.com/abstract=2088769

Tanzi, V. (1996). Fiscal federalism and decentralization: A review of some efficiency and macroeconomic aspects. Annual World Bank Conference on Development Economics, 1995, 295–316.

Ter-Minassian, T. (Ed.) (1997). Fiscal federalism in theory and practice. International Monetary Fund.

Tiebout, C. M. (1956). A pure theory of local expenditures. Journal of Political Economy, 64(5), 416–424. https://doi.org/10.1086/257839

Treisman, D. (2007). The architecture of government: Rethinking political decentralization. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511619151

Trstenjak, B., Kavran, A. K., & Bujan, I. (2015). Evaluation of Croatian development strategies using SWOT analyses with fuzzy TOPSIS method and k-means methods. Journal of Economics, Business and Management, 3(7), 687–693. https://doi.org/10.7763/JOEBM.2015.V3.267

Trzaskalik, T. (Ed.) (2014). Wielokryterialne wspomaganie decyzji. Metody i zastosowania [Multi-criteria decision support. Methods and applications]. Polskie Towarzystwo Ekonomiczne.

Walesiak, M. (1994). Metody klasyfikacji wielowymiarowej. Przegląd [Methods of multidimensional classification. Overview]. Prace Naukowe Akademii Ekonomicznej we Wrocławiu, 686, 51–66.

Wallis, J., & Oates, W. E. (1988). Decentralization in the public sector: An empirical study of state and local government. In H. S. Rosen (Ed.), Fiscal federalism: Quantitative studies (pp. 5–32). University of Chicago Press.

Weingast, B. R. (1995). The economic role of political institutions: Market-preserving federalism and economic development. Journal of Law, Economics and Organization, 11(1), 1–31.

Wimmer, A. (2012). Waves of war: Nationalism, state formation, and ethnic exclusion in the modern world. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139198318

Wojarska, M. (2014). Konkurencyjność województwa świętokrzyskiego na tle pozostałych regionów Polski [Competitiveness of the świętokrzyskie voivodeship against other Polish regions]. Studia i Materiały. Miscellanea Oeconomicae, 18(3), 129–143.

Zavadskas, E. K., Mardani, A., Turskis, Z., Jusoh, A., & Nor, K. M. (2016). Development of TOPSIS method to solve complicated decision-making problems – An overview on developments from 2000 to 2015. International Journal of Information Technology & Decision Making, 15(3), 645–682. https://doi.org/10.1142/S0219622016300019

Zeng, S., & Xiao, Y. (2018). A method based on TOPSIS and distance measures for hesitant fuzzy multiple attribute decision making. Technological and Economic Development of Economy, 24(3), 969–983. https://doi.org/10.3846/20294913.2016.1216472