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Does Urban Sprawl Increase the Costs of Providing Local Public Services? Evidence from Spanish Municipalities

Author

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  • Miriam Hortas-Rico

    (Barcelona Institute of Economics (IEB) and the Universitat Complutense de Madrid, Campus de Somosaguas, Madrid, 28223, Spain, miriamhortas@ccee.ucm.es)

  • Albert Solé-Ollé

    (Barcelona Institute of Economics (IEB), and the Universitat de Barcelona, Av. Diagonal 690, Barcelona, 43400, Spain, asole@ub.edu)

Abstract

This paper examines the impact of urban sprawl, a phenomenon of particular interest in Spain, which is currently experiencing this process of rapid, low-density urban expansion. Many adverse consequences are attributed to urban sprawl (such as traffic congestion, air pollution and social segregation), although this paper is concerned primarily with the rising costs of providing local public services. The initial aim is to develop an accurate measure of urban sprawl so that its impact on municipal budgets can be tested empirically. Then, an empirical analysis is undertaken using a cross-sectional dataset of 2500 Spanish municipalities for the year 2003 and a piece-wise linear function to account for the potentially non-linear relationship between sprawl and local costs. The estimations derived from the expenditure equations for both aggregate and six disaggregated spending categories indicate that low-density development patterns lead to greater provision costs of local public services.

Suggested Citation

  • Miriam Hortas-Rico & Albert Solé-Ollé, 2010. "Does Urban Sprawl Increase the Costs of Providing Local Public Services? Evidence from Spanish Municipalities," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 47(7), pages 1513-1540, June.
  • Handle: RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:47:y:2010:i:7:p:1513-1540
    DOI: 10.1177/0042098009353620
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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • H1 - Public Economics - - Structure and Scope of Government
    • H72 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - State and Local Budget and Expenditures
    • R51 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Regional Government Analysis - - - Finance in Urban and Rural Economies

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