Decentralization and the Impact of Local Environments on Policy Outcomes in South Korea.

In 1991, the South Korean government resumed the self-governing system at the local level, and has transferred authority for designing and implementing policies to local governments little by little. It is generally agreed that this devolution of authority had little impact and has thus resulted in little variation in policy outcomes across local jurisdictions. In 2005, the national government in Korea transferred the responsibility for designing and implementing welfare policy for the elderly to the local governments. As a result, local governments now have greater control over how much they spend and which policy alternatives, out of 14 spending alternatives, that they spend it on. In this paper, we examine variation in policy outcomes across local jurisdictions and the degree to which this variation can be explained by the use of local policymaking discretion, shaped by local environments (Keiser et al, 2004; Fording et al, 2007; Kim and Fording, 2007). Specifically, we explore how political, social, and economic factors across local governments in South Korea explain local policy outcomes. Much as in the U.S., we expect that local characteristics influence local policy outcomes through the discretion local governments exercise. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]