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Administrative scale economies in local government: An empirical analysis of Sabah municipalities, 2000 to 2009

Author

Listed:
  • Siew King Ting

    (Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia)

  • Brian Dollery

    (University of New England, Australia)

  • Rene Villano

    (University of New England, Australia)

Abstract

Municipal corporate centres not only perform multiple administrative functions, including supervision, monitoring and budgeting of the overall operation of local government, but also absorb significant resources. From a public policy perspective, it is thus important to determine whether administrative scale economies exist. Adopting an econometric approach, this paper investigates administrative scale effects and the determinants of administrative intensity at the corporate level for 22 local authorities in the Malaysian state of Sabah from 2000 to 2009. Our results indicate that there is an inverted U-shaped scale effect for staff size on administrative intensity in the small urban sample, while own-source revenue is the most important factor in determining administrative intensity in all local authorities and big urban samples. Several policy recommendations are proposed.

Suggested Citation

  • Siew King Ting & Brian Dollery & Rene Villano, 2014. "Administrative scale economies in local government: An empirical analysis of Sabah municipalities, 2000 to 2009," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 51(13), pages 2899-2915, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:51:y:2014:i:13:p:2899-2915
    DOI: 10.1177/0042098013512873
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    1. Caillan Fellows & Brian Dollery & Carolyn‐Thi Thanh Dung Tran, 2022. "Is Bigger More Efficient? An Empirical Analysis of Scale Economies in Administration in South Australian Local Government," Economic Papers, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 41(1), pages 54-67, March.
    2. Luan V. Bernardelli & Brian E. Dollery & Michael A. Kortt, 2021. "An Empirical Analysis of Scale Economies in Administrative Intensity in the Paraná State Local Government System in Brazil," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(2), pages 1-13, January.
    3. Carolyn‐Thi Thanh Dung Tran & Brian Dollery & Subba Reddy Yarram, 2023. "The Influence of Administrative Intensity on Efficiency: An Empirical Analysis of Australian Universities," Economic Papers, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 42(3), pages 282-305, September.
    4. Gerard Turley & John McDonagh & Stephen McNena & Arkadiusz Grzedzinski, 2018. "Optimum Territorial Reforms in Local Government: An Empirical Analysis of Scale Economies in Ireland," The Economic and Social Review, Economic and Social Studies, vol. 49(4), pages 463-488.

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