Abstract
An assumption of the post-World War II metropolitan reform movement was that fragmentation of metropolitan regions into multiple local governments was wasteful and inefficient, increasing the cost and size of government. More recently, ‘polycentrists’ have argued that the competition between multiple governments in metropolitan regions can in factreduce the growth in government by providing a competitive check on the excessive demands of local bureaucrats for more resources. In this article, I explore the effects of fragmentation on growth in the size of suburban municipal government budgets and in the number of services offered. Competition inherent in more fragmented metropolitan regions is shown to slow the expansion in local government expenditures and service levels.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
REFERENCES
Bennett, J.T., and Johnson, M.H. (1980).The political economy of federal government growth: 1959–1978. College Station, Texas: Center for Education and Research in Free Enterprise.
Bish, R. (1971).The political economy of metropolitan areas. Chicago: Markham.
Borcherding, T.E., Ed. (1977).Budgets and bureaucrats: The sources of government growth. Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press.
Committee for Economic Development. (1966).Modernizing local government. New York: Committee for Economic Development.
Committee for Economic Development. (1970).Reshaping government in metropolitan areas. New York: Committee for Economic Development.
DiLorenzo, T.J. (1981). The expenditure effects of restricting competition in local public service industries: The case of special districts.Public Choice 37: 569–578.
Dye, T., and Garcia, J. (1978). Structure, function and policy in American cities.Urban Affairs Quarterly 14: 103–122.
Hirsch, W. (1959). Expenditure implications of metropolitan growth and consolidation.Review of Economics and Statistics 41: 232–242.
Liebert, R.J. (1976).Disintegration and political action. New York: Academic Press.
Logan, J.R., and Schneider, M. (1981). The effects of business activity, functional responsibility, and regional context on suburban municipal expenditures. In R. Rich (Ed.),Analyzing urban service distributions, 235–250. Lexington, MA: Lexington Books.
Lowery, D., and Berry, W.D. (1983). The growth of government in the United States: An empirical assessment of competing explanations.American Journal of Political Science 27: 665–694.
Markus, G. (1979).Analyzing panel data. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publications.
McGuire, T.G. (1981) Budget maximizing government agencies: An empirical test.Public Choice 36: 313–322.
Miller, G., and Moe, T. (1983). Bureaucrats, legislators, and the size of government.American Political Science Review 77: 297–322.
Niskanen, W.A. (1971).Bureaucracy and representative government. Chicago: Aldine-Atherton.
Ostrom, E. (1972). Metropolitan reform: Propositions derived from two traditions.Social Science Quarterly 53: 474–493.
Ostrom, V., Tiebout, C.M., and Warren, R. (1961). The organization of government in metropolitan areas.American Political Science Review 55: 835–842.
Pack, H., and Pack, R. (1978). Metropolitan fragmentation and local public expenditures.National Tax Journal: 349–361.
Savas, E.S. (1982).Privatizing the public sector. Chatham, NJ: Chatham House.
Schneider, M. (1980).Suburban growth. Brunswick, OH: Kings Court.
Schneider, M., and Logan, J. (1982). Suburban racial segregation and black access to local resources.Social Science Quarterly: 762–770.
Tiebout, C. (1956). A pure theory of local expenditures.Journal of Political Economy: 416–424.
Wagner, R., and Weber, W. (1975). Competition, monopoly and the organization of government in metropolitan areas.Journal of Law and Economics: 670–684.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
The research reported in this paper was supported by a grant from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Grant Number: 5R01HD127203.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Schneider, M. Fragmentation and the growth of local government. Public Choice 48, 255–263 (1986). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00051622
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00051622