Millennium development goals and income distribution In sub-Saharan Africa: the Effect of Sub-National Governments

Abstract

A problem confronting developing countries is to what extent can decentralization—the linkages among the three levels of government (local, state, and federal), be armored to complement Millennium Development Goals to promote sustainable growth and development. This paper examines the effects of sub-national governments on the distribution of income in Sub-Saharan Africa. We consider the implications of a Hobbesian theory of government in which trust in its ability to secure and enforce property rights matters for the creation and distribution of wealth and income. With data from the Afro barometer survey on households in sixteen Sub-Saharan African countries, we estimate the effects that trust in both national and sub-national government has on the regional in- come distribution. Both simple and Instrumental Variable Quantile regression parameter estimates reveal that the level of regional income inequality decreases with respect to in- creases in local government trust. Our results suggest that the decentralization of power to local sub-national governments to secure and enforce property rights can reduce in- come inequality and poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa.