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Rent-seeking, spillovers and the benefits of decentralization

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  • Cheikbossian, Guillaume

Abstract

In the presence of spillovers, decentralized provision of local public goods may lead to a higher surplus than centralized provision even though localities have identical preferences. Indeed, free-riding costs associated to decentralization can be lower than the costs of rent-seeking and influence activities under centralization. Actually, centralization yields a higher level of regional surplus only if both the spillover effect from local public spending is sufficiently large and the elasticity of the influence function is sufficiently small.

Suggested Citation

  • Cheikbossian, Guillaume, 2008. "Rent-seeking, spillovers and the benefits of decentralization," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(1), pages 217-228, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:juecon:v:63:y:2008:i:1:p:217-228
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    3. Vladimir Ponczek & Enlinson Mattos & Paulo Arvate, 2015. "Municipalities Secession and uncertainty on public goods provision," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 35(1), pages 198-203.
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    5. Fitjar, Rune Dahl, 2019. "2019/01 Merging city and suburban governments: A public choice perspective on the Norwegian local government reform," UiS Working Papers in Economics and Finance 2019/1, University of Stavanger.
    6. Kessing, Sebastian G., 2010. "Federalism and accountability with distorted election choices," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(2), pages 239-247, March.
    7. Guillaume Cheikbossian, 2016. "The political economy of (De)centralization with complementary public goods," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 47(2), pages 315-348, August.
    8. Marco Alderighi & Christophe Feder, 2014. "Political competition, power allocation and welfare in unitary and federal systems," Working Paper series 23_14, Rimini Centre for Economic Analysis.
    9. Feder, Christophe, 2018. "Decentralization and spillovers: A new role for transportation infrastructure," Economics of Transportation, Elsevier, vol. 13(C), pages 36-47.
    10. Paulo Arvate & Vladimir Ponczek, 2008. "Municipality secession, voter’s preference and persistence of power," Working Papers 08_07, Universidade de São Paulo, Faculdade de Economia, Administração e Contabilidade de Ribeirão Preto.
    11. Janeba, Eckhard & Wilson, John Douglas, 2011. "Optimal fiscal federalism in the presence of tax competition," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(11), pages 1302-1311.
    12. Di Liddo, Giuseppe, 2017. "Are local agreements on equalization grants possible? A bargaining model with quasi-linear local preferences on local public goods," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 153(C), pages 9-11.
    13. Gil S Epstein & Yosef Mealem, 2012. "Cooperation and Effort in Group Contests," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 32(1), pages 624-638.
    14. Virgi A. Sari, 2019. "Educational Assistance and Education Quality in Indonesia: The Role of Decentralization," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 45(S1), pages 123-154, December.
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    16. Nicolas Jannin & Aurélie Sotura, 2019. "This Town Ain't Big Enough? Quantifying Local Public Goods Spillovers," Working Papers halshs-02160251, HAL.
    17. Amihai Glazer & Stef Proost, 2010. "Reducing Rent Seeking by Providing Wide Public Service," Working Papers 101106, University of California-Irvine, Department of Economics.
    18. Nicolas Jannin & Aurelie Sotura, 2020. "This Town Ain't Big Enough? Quantifying Public Good Spillovers," Working papers 796, Banque de France.
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