Agglomeration, Population Size, and the Cost of Providing Public Services: An Empirical Analysis for German States
21 Pages Posted: 27 May 2004 Last revised: 14 Aug 2008
Date Written: 2004
Abstract
This paper is concerned with the question as to what extent population size and density affect the cost of providing public services at the subnational level. Empirical estimates of cost functions are obtained from an analysis of the expenditures of German states disaggregated into about 40 functions of government. The empirical results indicate that generally there is no significant relationship between population density and the cost of public goods. At the same time, cost are almost proportionately related to population size indicating that goods and services provided by the German states display only a limited degree of publicness.
Keywords: agglomeration, cost of public services, local public goods
JEL Classification: H72, H73, H41
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation
Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?
Recommended Papers
-
Public Sector Decentralization: Measurement Concepts and Recent International Trends
-
Decentralized Taxation and the Size of Government: Evidence from Swiss State and Local Governments
By Lars P. Feld, Gebhard Kirchgässner, ...
-
Strategic Tax Competition in Switzerland: Evidence from a Panel of the Swiss Cantons
By Lars P. Feld and Emmanuelle Reulier
-
Public Sector Centralization and Productivity Growth: Reviewing the German Experience
By Thiess Buettner, Alexej Behnisch, ...
-
Fiscal Decentralization and Economic Growth in OECD Countries: Is There a Relationship?
-
Tax Interactions among Belgian Municipalities: Does Language Matter?
By Marcel Gerard, Hubert Jayet, ...
-
Interjurisdictional Competition and Economic Growth in U.S. Metropolitan Areas
By Dean Stansel