The impact of government form on resource allocation in local government, evidence from municipal court closures

Abstract

Differences in managerial expertise and political incentives associated with local government form may affect local government spending levels as well as the allocation of resources. This paper explores the latter possibility by estimating how the distribution of resources in councilmanager and mayor-council municipalities responds to a positive fiscal shock resulting from the abolition of a municipality's court. We find that court abolition has a distinct effect on the allocation of resources in councilmanager and mayor-council governments. As expected, mayor-council municipalities allocate the marginal dollar to policing. However, council-manager municipalities react to court closure by reducing police expenditures over the long-term.