Devolution and economic resilience in Nepal
研究了尼泊尔地方政府在新冠疫情期间，政府支出、内部收入及转移支付（有条件与无条件）对经济韧性的影响，发现支出和转移支付显著增强了农村和半城市地区的韧性，但内部收入作用有限。
This article examines the impact of three key components of devolution —government expenditure, internal revenue, and both conditional and unconditional transfers— on the economic resilience of Nepal’s local governments during and after the Covid-19 pandemic. Bridging the gap between the devolution and resilience literature, it focuses on Nepal, a country that embarked on an ambitious devolution journey, transitioning to a Federal Democratic Republic following the monarchy’s overthrow in 2008. This transition was institutionalised through the 2015 constitution, which established a three-tier system of government. The analysis reveals that, following fiscal devolution in 2017/18, local government expenditures and intergovernmental transfers significantly enhanced the resilience of rural and semi-urban municipalities. However, internal revenue collection has played a limited role in this process. In a country with low local-level capacity, conditional transfers —primarily allocated for infrastructure and services— have been crucial for local economic resilience, whereas unconditional transfers have not demonstrated the same impact. The findings suggest that greater investment, rather than autonomy, has been the primary driver of subnational economic resilience in Nepal.