This paper empirically evaluates the impact of fiscal decentralization on the performance of higher education systems. To test this relationship, we build up a panel dataset composed of European countries. Country-level performance is measured by an indicator using data from the Shanghai ranking. Using a dynamic panel approach, we find that a higher share of government spending coming from decentralized levels of governments leads to an improvement of the performance of research-intensive higher education institutions. We argue that a more decentralized higher education system increases the ability to attract and retain top scholars.

中文翻译：

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财政分权与高等教育机构的绩效：欧洲的情况

本文从经验上评估了财政分权对高等教育系统绩效的影响。为了测试这种关系，我们建立了一个由欧洲国家组成的面板数据集。国家一级的绩效是通过使用上海排名中的数据的指标进行衡量的。使用动态面板方法，我们发现来自权力下放的政府在政府支出中所占的比例更高，从而可以改善研究型高等教育机构的绩效。我们认为，去中心化的高等教育系统可以提高吸引和留住顶尖学者的能力。