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Florida International University FIU Digital Commons FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations University Graduate School 3-26-2012 Fiscal Decentralization and Development: An Analysis of City Governments in Argentina and Mexico, 1980–2010 Heidi Jane M. Smith Florida International University, [email protected] DOI: 10.25148/etd.FI12050219 Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd Recommended Citation Smith, Heidi Jane M., "Fiscal Decentralization and Development: An Analysis of City Governments in Argentina and Mexico, 1980–2010" (2012). FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 613. https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/613 This work is brought to you for free and open access by the University Graduate School at FIU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of FIU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY Miami, Florida FISCAL DECENTRALIZATION AND DEVELOPMENT: AN ANALYSIS OF CITY GOVERNMENTS IN ARGENTINA AND MEXICO, 1980–2010 A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in PUBLIC AFFAIRS by Heidi Jane M. Smith 2012 To: Dean Kenneth Furton College of Arts and Sciences This dissertation, written by Heidi Jane M. Smith, and entitled Fiscal Decentralization and Development: An Analysis of City Governments in Argentina and Mexico, 1980–2010, having been approved in respect to style and intellectual content, is referred to you for judgment. We have read this dissertation and recommend that it be approved. _______________________________________ Meredith Newman _______________________________________ Keith D. Revell _______________________________________ David Bray _______________________________________ Andrew Selee _______________________________________ Allan Rosenbaum, Major Professor Date of Defense: March 26, 2012 The dissertation of Heidi Jane M. Smith is approved. _______________________________________ Dean Kenneth Furton College of Arts and Sciences _______________________________________ Dean Lakshmi N. Reddi University Graduate School Florida International University, 2012 ii iii © Copyright 2012 by Heidi Jane M. Smith All rights reserved. iv DEDICATION To my grandmothers Viola Selma Tina Wissow Grunwaldt and Frances Margret Walker Smith for their pursuit of an education and their gumption to preserve our strong family ties and values, even under some of the most difficult circumstances imaginable. v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The pursuit and idea for this dissertation began some 15 years ago with a simple conversation. “What is the real difference between your town in Argentina and my town in Minnesota?” It was in 1997, when Eliana and I were reminiscing about our high school exchange programs to each other’s countries. The debate presented thoughts such as the differences in education, culture, finance, and economic development of our respective towns. The conversation revealed that there were more similarities than differences between our societies, yet the lack of governmental structure and city organization seemed to be an apparent deficit in Latin America. While a simple conversation, this became my first analysis of development and administration and their impacts on society. Moreover, this began my interest in studying decentralization as a tool for reorganizing governments. First and foremost, I would like to acknowledge my major professor and dissertation chair, Dr. Allan Rosenbaum. Since our first time meeting in an airport on our way to La Paz, Bolivia for a Ministerial Meeting on Decentralization in Latin America, a mission organized by the Organization of American States in 2001, he strongly encouraged me to pursue a doctoral degree at Florida International University. I appreciate the time we have spent together sharing ideas, current events, theoretical concepts, American political history and politics, but more importantly some great adventures. I am grateful for the humility and humor of my colleagues Cristina Rodríguez Acosta, Carlota Valdéz, Jeisson Rodríguez, Ilyana Albarrán and Rachel Emas within the Institute for Public Management and Community Service, where I worked for a majority of my time as a doctoral student at FIU. Additionally, I would like to thank Dr. David Bray, Dr. Keith Revell and Dr. Andrew Selee, who have each provided me with timeless advice and keen critical recommendations for this vi dissertation. Finally, I would like to highlight my last committee member and the chair of our public administration department, Dr. Meredith Newman. Her deep passion for the field and acute leadership skills have left me with one of the best role models and a true aspiration to follow in her footsteps. I could not have completed this dissertation without institutional support. First, a pre- dissertation field research grant from the Jack B. Gordon Public Policy Fellowship allowed me to conduct primary research during the summer of 2009. Additionally, FIU’s Latin American and Caribbean Center, and particularly Dr. Cristina Eguizabal, helped identify the case studies. My colleagues in the Economic Policy and Summit Coordination office in the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs at the U.S. State Department helped me to develop several ideas, which were presented as policy papers while I served there in 2009-10. The Fulbright-García Robles grant permitted me to live in Mexico City and work at the Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas (CIDE) for the 2010-11 academic year. I’d like to acknowledge my advisors, colleagues and active critics: Dr. Mauricio Merino, Dr. Enrique Cabrero, Dr. Fausto Hernández, Dr. Guillermo Cejudo, Dr. Victor Figueras and Dr. Edgar Ramírez de la Cruz, who each provided me with guidance and advice to my dissertation. I am grateful to Dr. José Ramón Gil for allowing me to sit in his second year doctoral seminar at CIDE and to Oliver Meza and Alberto Cañas for their companionship and helpful explanations of the Mexican intergovernmental system. The Tinker Foundation, Inc. travel grant arrived just in time in 2011 to make a final visit to the Argentine cases. I would like to thank Cristina Días of the Universidad de Rosario, Daniel Cravacuore of the Universidad de Quilmes, Pablo Costamagna of the IDB’s Territorial Competitiveness Program in Rafaela for their assistance and time finding vii materials and proving fundamental introductions for interviews while in Argentina. Finally, FIU’s University Graduate School’s Dissertation Evidence Acquisition and Dissertation Year Fellowships helped provide funding for the essential time to finish my research and writing. Overall, this dissertation has included three individual trips to Argentina and a yearlong stay in Mexico in order to gather important interviews with local, state and national representatives. On site data gathering has helped me to better evaluate the perception and the current state of affairs of fiscal decentralization (and autonomy) and its relationship with local economic development within the region. I would also like to thank each person that I had to opportunity to speak with while conducting over 100 interviews during this time. For which I had the opportunity to learn their specific points of view on the subject. In order to keep the interviews confidential, I simply referred the job type of each of the public administrators in the text. Finally, without friends to call, relax with and rely on, this dissertation could not have been completed. As such I’d like to thank Jorge Rebolledo, Mariela Vallejo in Mexico; Keith Eischeid, Megan Moriarty, Jessica Bagdonis, Jessica Salsbury and Karen Juckett in Washington D.C.; Erin and Warren Parker in Fort Lauderdale; and Eliana Dam, Luciana Bergamo, Ana Sol Molfese and Kate Barron Alacante in Argentina for their support and friendship. In particular, Gabriel Farfán has provided much needed support. Last but not least, I’d like to acknowledge my family: Thora, Leah, David, John and Heather Kilde and Robert K. and Jane M. Smith for their support, patience and love. Without you, I could not continue to follow my dreams and for that, I am deeply grateful. viii ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION FISCAL DECENTRALIZATION AND DEVELOPMENT: AN ANALYSIS OF CITY GOVERNMENTS IN ARGENTINA AND MEXICO, 1980-2010 by Heidi Jane M. Smith Florida International University, 2012 Miami, Florida Professor Allan Rosenbaum, Major Professor This dissertation examines local governments’ efforts to promote economic development in Latin America. The research uses a mixed method to explore how cities make decisions to innovate, develop, and finance economic development programs. First, this study provides a comparative analysis of decentralization policies in Argentina and Mexico as a means to gain a better understanding of the degree of autonomy exercised by local governments. Then, it analyzes three local governments each within the province of Santa Fe, Argentina and the State of Guanajuato, Mexico. The principal hypothesis of this dissertation is that if local governments collect more own-source tax revenue, they are more likely to promote economic development and thus, in turn, promote growth for their region. By examining six cities, three of which are in Santa Fe—Rosario, Santa Fe (capital) and Rafaela—and three in Guanajuato—Leon, Guanajuato (capital) and San Miguel de Allende, this dissertation provides a better understanding of public finances and tax collection efforts

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