Usage of Specialized Service Delivery: Evidence from Contiguous Counties

Goodman, Christopher B.

doi:10.1093/publius/pjx065

Cited by 15 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 40 publications

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“…The remainder of fiscal and functional autonomy variables in the unconditional models are not statistically different from zero. These results provide partial support for previous null findings in these areas (Goodman, Forthcoming;Carr 2006).…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 86%

Do Cities and Counties Attempt to Circumvent Changes in Their Autonomy by Creating Special Districts?

Goodman

Leland

2018

The American Review of Public Administration

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This study uses forty years of data from the US Census of Governments to examine the impact of changes in local autonomy on the creation of the fastest growing form of local governments, special districts. Using fixed effects regression specified at the urban county and metropolitan statistical area level, we find that restrictions of fiscal autonomy of cities is associated with creation of new special districts. When the limits on fiscal autonomy interacts with grants of functional autonomy, amplification occurs. We find no analogous effects for county governments. These two findings are consistent with the circumvention argument made in the local autonomy literature.

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Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 86%

Do Cities and Counties Attempt to Circumvent Changes in Their Autonomy by Creating Special Districts?

Goodman

Leland

2018

The American Review of Public Administration

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“…If entry and exit is being determined by demand for services, there may be little cause for concern; however, if these factors are being driven by policy changes or other exogenous factors, there may be a role for state governments to take a more active role. There is inconsistent evidence for the former (Carr and Farmer 2011;Billings and Carroll 2012;Goodman 2018), and little evidence for the latter (Bauroth 2010).…”

Section: Policy Implications and Conclusionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Bowler and Donovan (2004), Carr (2006), Carr and Farmer (2011), and Goodman and Leland (2019) all find a positive relationship between TELs and special districts contingent on some other influence. Even with these positive correlations, there are numerous negative (Bauroth 2015;Foster 1997) and null findings (Berry 2009;Billings and Carroll 2012;Lewis 2000;Shi 2017;Goodman 2018) in the literature.…”

Section: Why Are Special Districts Created and Destroyed?mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There is a small literature on the factors associated with the creation of special districts and an even smaller literature on dissolution. Much of the creation literature focuses on whether changes in the autonomy of general purpose local governments lead those governments to circumvent changes by creating special districts (MacManus 1981;Nelson 1990;McCabe 2000;Carr 2006;Berry 2009;Carr and Farmer 2011;Billings and Carroll 2012;Bauroth 2015;Shi 2017;Goodman 2018;Goodman and Leland 2019). The findings are mixed within this literature with limited consensus on whether changes in autonomy result in the creation of special districts.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Patterns in Special District Creation and Dissolution

Goodman¹

2019

Preprint

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Special districts are a numerous and unique form of local government in the United States. Unlike cities, counties, and towns, special districts are created and dissolved often. Using tools from the industrial organizations literature, this analysis examines patterns in creation and dissolution of special districts using Census of Governments data from 1972 to 2017. Overall, the rate of entry (creation) has been declining over time while the rate of exit (dissolution) has remained steady. New districts tend to be small relative to existing districts and and exhibit slow growth over time. Lastly, special districts do not appear susceptible to the “liability of newness” or exhibit high levels of infant organizational mortality that is common in the private sector.

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“…To test the unconditional hypothesis outlined above, a model built upon recent research (Nelson 1990;Carr and Farmer 2011;Billings and Carroll 2012;Goodman and Leland 2012;Goodman, Forthcoming) is specified.…”

Section: Datamentioning

confidence: 99%