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The use of intergovernmental grants in educational policies may give rise to a conflict between gains attributable to local flexibility and the central government's intention to narrow gaps in school spending and resource use across local jurisdictions. This paper estimates the impact on school resources of a Norwegian central government grant intended to decrease the student-teacher ratio in primary school (grades 1–4). The grant was given to the 100 municipalities with the highest student-teacher ratios out of more than 400 municipalities. Using a difference-in-differences approach, our results show that Norwegian municipalities did not increase teacher density in primary schools, despite receiving extra grants for this purpose. Though we cannot rule out that there was some take-up of our grant, we can exclude full take up. Our results suggest that strong enforcement mechanisms may be necessary for earmarked grants to affect local allocation of resources as intended by central governments, although this might come at the cost of reducing local flexibility. ; publishedVersion

What happens to policy implementation when the process suffers from problems of coordination? In this article, the focus is on how central-local relations create inter-organisational coordination problems, which in the long run affect the implementation of policies in urban governance. In the case of the Rajshahi City Corporation (RCC) in Bangladesh, the central-local relationship is determined by the political identity of the mayor. By virtue of his attachment with the party in power, the RCC receives more favours especially in terms of the allocation of resources from the central government. These resources facilitate the completion of many development projects. Figures, References. Adapted from the source document.

1. Introduction -- 2. Sustainable development in the UK -- 3. Local democracy and decision-making : accountability and participation -- 4. Local government democracy and sustainability -- 5. The new deal and the big society : democracy, decision-making and sustainability -- 6. Democracy in sustainability : the wider world and lessons for the future.