Was bringen kommunale Gebietsreformen?

Blesse, Sebastian; Rösel, Felix

doi:10.1515/pwp-2017-0050

Cited by 9 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 63 publications

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“…However, in neither case we observe a change in county staff. Altogether, the results confirm prior findings that mergers of local administrations do not result in cost savings (see Blesse and Roesel 2017). This finding may explain why only few countries applied merger reforms so far (Table 1).…”

Section: Fiscal Effectssupporting

confidence: 89%

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Merging county administrations – cross-national evidence of fiscal and political effects

Blesse

Roesel

2018

Local Government Studies

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While many central governments amalgamate municipalities, mergers of larger county administrations are rare and hardly explored. In this article, we assess both fiscal and political effects of county mergers in two different institutional settings: counties act autonomously as upper-level local governments (Germany), or counties being decentralised branches of the state government (Austria). We apply difference-indifferences estimations to county merger reforms in each country. In both cases, some counties were amalgamated while others remain untouched. Austrian counties (Bezirke) and German counties (Landkreise) widely differ in terms of autonomy and institutions, but our results are strikingly similar. In both cases, we neither find evidence for cost savings nor for staff reductions. Instead, voter turnout consistently decreases in merged counties, and right-wing populists seem to gain additional support. We conclude that political costs clearly outweigh fiscal null benefits of county merger reformsindependent of the underlying institutional setting.

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Section: Fiscal Effectssupporting

confidence: 89%

“…4. Blesse and Roesel (2017) provide a comprehensive overview on the literature on municipal merger reforms. There are also studies that do not use quasiexperimental methods such as difference-in-differences estimations (for example, Hanes 2015).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Merging county administrations – cross-national evidence of fiscal and political effects

Blesse

Roesel

2018

Local Government Studies

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“…Altogether, the results confirm prior findings that mergers of local administrations do not result in cost savings (see Blesse and Roesel 2017). This finding may explain why only few countries applied merger reforms so far (Table 1).…”

Section: Fiscal Effectssupporting

confidence: 89%

“…Therefore, some districts were split -for example, in the booming West Austrian state of Vorarlberg (district of Dornbirn). 4 Blesse and Roesel (2017) provide a comprehensive overview on the literature on municipal merger reforms.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Merging County Administrations – Cross-National Evidence of Fiscal and Political Effects

Blesse

Roesel

2018

SSRN Journal

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Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen:Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden.Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen.Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. http://ftp.zew.de/pub/zew-docs/dp/dp18031.pdf Die Dis cus si on Pape rs die nen einer mög lichst schnel len Ver brei tung von neue ren For schungs arbei ten des ZEW. Die Bei trä ge lie gen in allei ni ger Ver ant wor tung der Auto ren und stel len nicht not wen di ger wei se die Mei nung des ZEW dar. Terms of use: Documents inDis cus si on Papers are inten ded to make results of ZEW research prompt ly avai la ble to other eco no mists in order to encou ra ge dis cus si on and sug gesti ons for revi si ons. The aut hors are sole ly respon si ble for the con tents which do not neces sa ri ly repre sent the opi ni on of the ZEW. Accepted for publication in Local Government StudiesAbstract While many central governments amalgamate municipalities, mergers of larger county administrations are rare and hardly explored. In this paper, we assess both fiscal and political effects of county mergers in two different institutional settings: counties act autonomously as upperlevel local governments (Germany), or counties being decentralised branches of the state government (Austria). We apply difference-in-differences estimations to county merger reforms in each country. In both cases, some counties were amalgamated while others remain untouched.Austrian counties (Bezirke) and German counties (Landkreise) widely differ in terms of autonomy and institutions, but our results are strikingly similar. In both cases, we neither find evidence for cost savings nor for staff reductions. Instead, voter turnout consistently decreases in merged counties, and right-wing populists seem to gain additional support. We conclude that political costs clearly outweigh fiscal null benefits of county merger reforms -independent of the underlying institutional setting.

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“…Educational attainment has also been shown to shape political participation (Galston, 2001). Blesse and Rösel (2017) conclude their review stating that smaller communes offer more opportunities for citizens to participate in politics.…”

Section: Communal Mergers and Democratic Participationmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Impact of Municipality Mergers on Political Participation

Frey

Briviba

Gullo³

2023

Swiss Political Sci Review

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The citizen assembly of the Swiss canton Glarus in 2006 decided to radically reduce the historical number of communes from 25 to three. Studies show that the financial and economic consequences are surprisingly small. This paper analyzes the effects on citizens' vote participation as an indicator of their political involvement. Using the difference‐in‐difference and the synthetic control methods, we empirically show that vote participation dropped significantly, also compared to neighboring cantons and the rest of Switzerland.

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Was bringen kommunale Gebietsreformen?

Cited by 9 publications

References 63 publications

Merging county administrations – cross-national evidence of fiscal and political effects

Merging county administrations – cross-national evidence of fiscal and political effects

Merging County Administrations – Cross-National Evidence of Fiscal and Political Effects

The Impact of Municipality Mergers on Political Participation

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