The Impact of Government Size and Number of Administrative Units on the Quality of Public Services

Christenson, James A.; Sachs, Carolyn

doi:10.2307/2392228

Cited by 35 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…However, the existence of an optimal municipality size is regarded as controversial. Some authors show positive effects of increasing size (Christenson and Sachs 1980;Smith and Meier 1994;Avellaneda and Gomes 2015), whereas others argue for the opposite conclusion (Fowler and Walberg 1991). It has also been argued that the optimal size of local government depends on the nature of the public services provided (Ostrom, Tiebout, and Warren 1961; see also Lago-Peñas and Martinez-Vazquez 2013).…”

Section: Theoretical Reflectionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of amalgamations: evidence from Swiss municipalities

Steiner

Kaiser

2016

Public Management Review

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Many OECD countries have amalgamated their municipalities during the last couple of decades. For decisions concerning future territorial rescaling, it is crucial to augment the previously inconclusive evaluative knowledge of the effects of mergers. This paper examines the effects of amalgamations conducted between 1998 and 2009 in the areas of public service delivery, local finance, administrative staff, municipal autonomy and local democracy. The data are obtained from two comprehensive surveys of all local secretaries (top civil servants) in Switzerland in 1998 and 2009. The analysis -based upon a comparison between a quasi-experimental and a control group -(partially) supports the hypothesis of a positive effect on public service delivery, the professionalization of staff and municipal autonomy. The effect on local finance is inconclusive, and negative effects on local democracy are not discovered in the framework of this study.

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Section: Theoretical Reflectionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of amalgamations: evidence from Swiss municipalities

Steiner

Kaiser

2016

Public Management Review

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“…Smith et al's (1989) research on the size-performance relationship was not the only work conducted on this question. Christenson and Sachs (1980) and Gooding and Wagner (1985) both studied this relationship, and the Gooding and Wagner study is one of two size-focused meta-analyses identified in the literature search. Gooding and Wagner's meta-analysis dealt with the relationship between size and both performance and efficiency whereas the other, conducted by Damanpour (1992), dealt with the relationships between size and innovation.…”

Section: Representative Findingsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pilgrim’s Progress: Trends and Convergence in Research on Organizational Size and Environments

Bluedorn

1993

Journal of Management

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This article reviews the research conducted on organizational size and environments from 1980 through 1992. Specifically, the environmental research based on the traditional environmental contingency model is reviewed and trends over the review period are identified. The organizational size literature is reviewed in a similar fashion. Suggestions for empirical and theoretical extensions of trends identified in both research streams arepresented. An especially salient finding in the review is the emerging theoretical convergence of the size and environment research streams on the topic of organizational life cycles, which seems to particularly involve the population ecology model. Possible theoretical convergence between the institutional, population ecology, interorganizational relations, and environmental enactment perspectives and other fundamental organizationtheory areas (e.g., culture andstrategy) are then proposed. Overall, traditional organizational size and environment research continued at a steady pace over the review period, and new approaches and perspectives, especially in the area of environment research, have developed and are surpassing the traditional approaches in the volume of research they generate.

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“…They find the elasticity of crime rates with respect to city size to be about 0.12. An earlier study, by Christianson and Sachs (1980), used survey data to argue that larger governments are better. Of course, an objective measure like crime is a better measure.…”

Section: Prior Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Economies of scale and market power in policing

Southwick

2005

Manage Decis Econ

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The objective of this paper is to use a simultaneous equations method for estimating police production and demand to determine whether or not there are economies of scale in policing. In addition, the effect of market power on productivity, using the Herfindahl-Hirschmann Index, is to be measured. The estimation yields the result that there are diseconomies of scale with respect to the amount of crime beyond about 22 000 people in the policing jurisdiction and diseconomies of scale in numbers of police beyond about 36 000 people. Efficiency is also reduced where there is greater market power. This is conjectured to be the public sector equivalent of taking market power profits. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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The Impact of Government Size and Number of Administrative Units on the Quality of Public Services

Cited by 35 publications

References 12 publications

Effects of amalgamations: evidence from Swiss municipalities

Effects of amalgamations: evidence from Swiss municipalities

Pilgrim’s Progress: Trends and Convergence in Research on Organizational Size and Environments

Economies of scale and market power in policing

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