Does size matter? Evidence from municipal splits

We contribute to the limited knowledge of the consequences of municipal splits by estimating how break‐ups of seven Swedish municipalities affected per capita expenditures. To predict what would have happened had the break‐ups not taken place, we apply the matrix completion method with nuclear norm...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of regional science Vol. 64; no. 3; pp. 700 - 731
Main Authors Erlingsson, Gissur Ó, Klarin, Jonas, Mörk, Eva
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Heightstown Blackwell Publishers Inc 01.06.2024
Subjects
Capital expenditures
Economic policy
Economics
Expenditures
jurisdictional size
local governments
matrix completion
Minimization
municipal expenditures
Municipal law
municipal splits
Municipalities
Nationalekonomi
Per capita
territorial reforms
jurisdictional size
municipal expenditures
municipal splits
matrix completion
local governments
territorial reforms
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Summary:We contribute to the limited knowledge of the consequences of municipal splits by estimating how break‐ups of seven Swedish municipalities affected per capita expenditures. To predict what would have happened had the break‐ups not taken place, we apply the matrix completion method with nuclear norm minimization. We find that smaller municipalities not necessarily imply higher per capita expenditures. Instead, expenditures increase in some cases, are unaffected in others, and in others, decrease. The results point to the complex nature of territorial reforms and underscore the perils of policy recommendations that take uniform outcomes of either amalgamations or break‐ups for granted.
ISSN:0022-4146
1467-9787
1467-9787
DOI:10.1111/jors.12679