ABSTRACT
The intergovernmental fiscal issue is quite widely discussed and is becoming more so, given the very significant worldwide movement toward more decentralized governance. It is quite apparent that in many industrialized countries, local governments have become the most important agents for the formulation and implementation of broad swathes of welfare policy relating to aging, healthcare, and income support for the poor and so on. In developing countries as well, the post independence fascination with centralized government is giving way to experimentation with decentralized models.
