Practice running ahead of theory? Political economy and the economic lessons of UK devolution
本文分析英国当代及北爱尔兰历史权力下放案例，支持制度设计对经济结果至关重要的假设，对研究分权与经济增长关系的学者有参考价值。
Advocates of political decentralisation make much of its supposed ‘economic dividends’. Critics of this argument, while acknowledging the possible benefits, suggest that the specific ‘institutional geography’ under which devolution operates is crucial. In short, the Institutionalist critique is that economic outcomes are contingent on the way devolved institutions are designed. The institutional geography of contemporary UK devolution, as well as the historical case of Northern Irish devolution (1920s-1972), is analysed in this paper. Contemporary and historical evidence as well as theoretical material presented provides further support for the hypothesis that institutional structures are crucial.