The Share Revenue Tax to Municipalities and the Incentives of the Public Health System in Province of Buenos Aires: Politics of the “Impossible Reform”

Abstract

The aim of the paper is to analyze the lasting consequences of the merging between the share revenue tax to municipalities from province of Buenos Aires and the central aspects of the health policy. The objective is to answer which are the elements that explain the long-lasting inertia of an institutional agreement challenged by different actors. In this case study a causal argument is posited in terms of path dependence, and it is shown how this persistent status quo owns its existence to the veto points located in the institutional structure –fundamentally the provincial legislature–, along with other reinforcement mechanisms –like the ideas orienting the actors–. Finally, a plausible political strategy for the gradual changing of the share revenue tax is offered.