Economies of scale and market power in policing

Southwick, Lawrence

doi:10.1002/mde.1230

Cited by 9 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…This implies that there is an optimal size for governments. Loehman and Emerson [33], Shapiro [34] Drake and Simper [35], and Southwick [36] all effectively find such cost curves. This implies economies of scale for smaller municipalities and diseconomies for larger municipalities.…”

Section: Background Issuesmentioning

confidence: 98%

Economies of Scale in Local Government: General Government Spending

Southwick¹

2012

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The purpose of this paper is to determine whether larger or smaller municipalities are more efficient in their levels of overhead costs. The operative measure is per capita annual costs for these services. In addition, the issue of market structure as a factor in these costs is also to be studied. It is not for the purpose of considering costs for specific services but rather the general overhead items that are required of all local governments. The method of study will be to use the cities and towns of New York State over a number of years. This will ensure that the study group is relatively homogeneous over applicable state laws as well as giving a wide variation in the population levels studied. The per capita expenditures will be regressed against population and market power variables using several equation forms. The results will be tested for significance in scale effects and market power effects. Optimal population sizes will be calculated where possible. The outline of the paper is as follows: 1) Introduction, 2) Background issues, 3) The study design, 4) Data, 5) Results, and 6) Conclusions

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Section: Background Issuesmentioning

confidence: 98%

Economies of Scale in Local Government: General Government Spending

Southwick¹

2012

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“…Lisk [38] found that having competitive markets and competition for highway maintenance made a great deal of difference in the resulting costs. Southwick [4] and [36] also found that greater market power resulted in increased costs.…”

Section: Prior Researchmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…However, Link [35] uses translog estimation and finds economies of scale in Germany. Southwick found U-shaped average cost curves for police [4] and for general overhead spending in local governments [36].…”

Section: Prior Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Of course, the arrangement with the Town may also be on a cash basis. Examples of such contracting with the surrounding Town in New York State include Farnham Village in Brant Town in Erie County and Brushton Village in Moira Town in Franklin County 4 . There are at least two possible ways to handle the data for the municipalities that contract out their highway maintenance.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Are There Economies of Scale in Highway Maintenance? What about Costs Due to Market Power?

Southwick

2014

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The object of this paper is to determine whether there are economies or diseconomies of scale in highway maintenance and whether higher concentration levels/greater market power across the governments involved in highway maintenance results in higher or lower cost levels. The data used come from New York State municipalities. New York is divided into Towns and Cities that added together give the total land area for the State. There are also Villages that are located in one or more Towns. All of these government entities may own and manage/maintain highways. The results are that 1) there are significantly U-shaped average cost curves, but the differences in average costs between communities with lower numbers or higher numbers of lane miles than the most efficient are not very great and 2) there are both substantial and significant increases in average costs when market power is greater. Thus, making the case for mergers of communities is more difficult and such mergers would be more problematic.

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“…Second, there is only a limited amount of scholarly work that has been published on the dimensions of police consolidation itself. There has been an increased interest in this topic more recently, but in general, this literature has historically focused on whether and how police consolidation impacts the quality and efficiency of police services (Krimmel, 1997; Lithopoulos & Rigakos, 2005; McDavid, 2002; Simper & Weyman-Jones, 2007; Southwick, 2005; Wilson & Grammich, 2012; Wilson, Weiss, & Grammich, 2012) . Much of the literature published is several decades old, written by private consultants, and few studies have been published in peer-reviewed outlets.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Police Consolidation in the News

2014

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Although there is a large body of research on media coverage of crime and criminal justice issues, there is significantly less information about policing issues generally, and there has not been a study that specifically examines how the consolidation of law enforcement agencies has been presented in the news. This study fills this gap. We explore two general themes. First, we detail what issues about consolidation have been emphasized in the news. Second, we examine the types of sources that news reporters have relied on and how they have used them in stories about consolidation.

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Economies of scale and market power in policing

Cited by 9 publications

References 32 publications

Economies of Scale in Local Government: General Government Spending

Economies of Scale in Local Government: General Government Spending

Are There Economies of Scale in Highway Maintenance? What about Costs Due to Market Power?

Police Consolidation in the News

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