IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/apeclt/v32y2025i6p863-869.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The fiscal effects of cross-prefectural border municipal mergers: evidence from Japan using the synthetic control method

Author

Listed:
  • Haruaki Hirota

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether social connectedness can mitigate the fiscal common pool problem in municipal mergers, as many studies have primarily focused on whether this problem occurs. I employ the synthetic control method by using higher-level government borders to identify the moderating effects of social connectedness. The findings reveal that subordinate partners in cross-prefectural border mergers significantly reduce their bonds and construction expenses just before the mergers. Merger partners with strong incentives to merge do not create fiscal common pool problems, which is the opposite of previous studies. The result might imply the potential effectiveness of merger support policies that prioritize social connectedness.

Suggested Citation

  • Haruaki Hirota, 2025. "The fiscal effects of cross-prefectural border municipal mergers: evidence from Japan using the synthetic control method," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 32(6), pages 863-869, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:apeclt:v:32:y:2025:i:6:p:863-869
    DOI: 10.1080/13504851.2023.2290580
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/13504851.2023.2290580
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/13504851.2023.2290580?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:taf:apeclt:v:32:y:2025:i:6:p:863-869. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/RAEL20 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.