The economic and political impacts of top-down territorial reforms: the case of sub-city governments

Tavares, António F.; Rodrigues, Miguel

Publication

The economic and political impacts of top-down territorial reforms: the case of sub-city governments

2015Journal article

dc.contributor.author	Tavares, António F.
dc.contributor.author	Rodrigues, Miguel
dc.date.accessioned	2015-11-26T11:38:15Z
dc.date.available	2015-11-26T11:38:15Z
dc.date.issued	2015
dc.description.abstract	The main objective of this manuscript is to test two competing hypotheses from the regionalism/localism literature regarding local government size. The Leviathan hypothesis argues that fragmentation induces lower spending through more decentralised government structures which are smaller relative to the size of the local economy. This argument is in sharp opposition with the supporters of regionalism who argue that territorial centralisation can produce economies of scale and significant cost savings, reduce overlaps and promote a more efficient local government. These competing hypoth- eses derived from the literature are tested using data collected from all 278 local governments of continental Portugal. We measure local government size as both per capita total expenditures and per capita grant transfers to sub-city governments and territorial fragmentation as the number of sub-city governments per 1,000 individuals. Our findings indicate that higher levels of sub-city fragmentation lead to increased municipal government spending and transfers to sub-city governments, thus suggesting that the amalgamation of sub-city governments required by the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed in 2011 by the Portuguese government, the International Monetary Fund, the European Union and the European Central Bank and mandated by national legislation has the potential to induce cost savings and to improve financial sustainability.	pt_PT
dc.identifier	10.1080/03003930.2015.1057278
dc.identifier.citation	Tavares, António F.; Rodrigues, Miguel (2015). The economic and political impacts of top-down territorial reforms: the case of sub-city governments. Local Governments Studies. ISSN 0300-3930. 41:6, p. 956-976	pt_PT
dc.identifier.doi	10.1080/03003930.2015.1057278	pt_PT
dc.identifier.issn	0300-3930
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10198/12438
dc.language.iso	eng	pt_PT
dc.peerreviewed	yes	pt_PT
dc.rights.uri	http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/	pt_PT
dc.subject	Territorial reforms	pt_PT
dc.subject	Local government size	pt_PT
dc.subject	Fragmentation	pt_PT
dc.subject	Amalgamation	pt_PT
dc.subject	Regionalism	pt_PT
dc.title	The economic and political impacts of top-down territorial reforms: the case of sub-city governments	pt_PT
dc.type	journal article
dspace.entity.type	Publication
oaire.awardURI	info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/FCT/3599-PPCDT/PEst-OE%2FCJP%2FUI0758%2F2013/PT
oaire.citation.endPage	976	pt_PT
oaire.citation.issue	6	pt_PT
oaire.citation.startPage	956	pt_PT
oaire.citation.title	Local Governments Studies	pt_PT
oaire.citation.volume	41	pt_PT
oaire.fundingStream	3599-PPCDT
person.familyName	Rodrigues
person.givenName	Miguel
person.identifier.ciencia-id	F71E-C528-C082
person.identifier.orcid	0000-0002-2254-2607
person.identifier.rid	F-2950-2018
person.identifier.scopus-author-id	55932145600
project.funder.identifier	http://doi.org/10.13039/501100001871
project.funder.name	Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia
rcaap.rights	restrictedAccess	pt_PT
rcaap.type	article	pt_PT
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