48. Read the following passage, then answer the question below.

The transfer of fiscal authority from central to subnational governments is frequently justified on the grounds that local administrations possess superior information about community preferences and can therefore allocate resources more efficiently than a distant central authority. Empirical evidence, however, complicates this narrative. In jurisdictions where administrative capacity remains underdeveloped, decentralization has in some cases coincided with a deterioration in service delivery, as local governments struggle to manage newly acquired responsibilities without commensurate technical support. This has led some scholars to argue that the efficiency gains attributed to decentralization are contingent upon a threshold level of institutional readiness that is too often assumed rather than verified prior to implementation. The policy implication is not that decentralization should be abandoned, but that sequencing matters: capacity-building measures may need to precede, rather than accompany, the devolution of fiscal responsibility.

The word "contingent" in the passage is closest in meaning to ...