IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/h/elg/eechap/15294_7.html
   My bibliography  Save this book chapter

Local government size and efficiency in labor-intensive public services: evidence from local educational authorities in England

In: The Challenge of Local Government Size

Author

Listed:
  • Rhys Andrews

Abstract

Expert contributors in economics and political science offer a comprehensive breakdown of the issue of local jurisdiction fragmentation and provide recommendations for successful policy reform. Topics discussed include economies of scale, the costs and benefits of voluntary and forced amalgamation programs, the correlation between government size and corruption, privatization, and inter-municipal cooperation. A combination of theory and empirical evidence provides depth and makes this book an invaluable addition to the literature.

Suggested Citation

  • Rhys Andrews, 2013. "Local government size and efficiency in labor-intensive public services: evidence from local educational authorities in England," Chapters, in: Santiago Lago-Peñas & Jorge Martinez-Vazquez (ed.), The Challenge of Local Government Size, chapter 7, pages 171-188, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    • Handle: RePEc:elg:eechap:15294_7
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.elgaronline.com/view/9781782544296.00011.xml
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Colegrave, Andrew D. & Giles, Margaret J., 2008. "School cost functions: A meta-regression analysis," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 27(6), pages 688-696, December.
    2. George A. Boyne, 1996. "Scale, Performance And The New Public Management: An Empirical Analysis Of Local Authority Services," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(6), pages 809-826, November.
    3. Greene, William, 2011. "Fixed Effects Vector Decomposition: A Magical Solution to the Problem of Time-Invariant Variables in Fixed Effects Models?," Political Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 19(2), pages 135-146, April.
    4. Hausman, Jerry A & Taylor, William E, 1981. "Panel Data and Unobservable Individual Effects," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 49(6), pages 1377-1398, November.
    5. Downes, Thomas A. & Pogue, Thomas F., 1994. "Adjusting School Aid Formulas for the Higher Cost of Educating Disadvantaged Students," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association, vol. 47(1), pages 89-110, March.
    6. Santiago Lago-Peñas & Jorge Martinez-Vazquez (ed.), 2013. "The Challenge of Local Government Size," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 15294.
    7. Hausman, Jerry, 2015. "Specification tests in econometrics," Applied Econometrics, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), vol. 38(2), pages 112-134.
    8. James M. Poterba, 1997. "Demographic structure and the political economy of public education," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 16(1), pages 48-66.
    9. Michelle Trawick & Roy Howsen, 2006. "Crime and community heterogeneity: race, ethnicity, and religion," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 13(6), pages 341-345.
    10. David N King & Yue Ma, 2000. "Local Authority Size in Theory and Practice," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 18(3), pages 255-270, June.
    11. Richard J. Butler & David H. Monk, 1985. "The Cost of Public Schooling in New York State: The Role of Scale and Efficiency in 1978-79," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 20(3), pages 361-382.
    12. Salmon, Pierre, 1987. "Decentralisation as an Incentive Scheme," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 3(2), pages 24-43, Summer.
    13. Breusch, Trevor & Ward, Michael B. & Nguyen, Hoa Thi Minh & Kompas, Tom, 2011. "FEVD: Just IV or Just Mistaken?," Political Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 19(2), pages 165-169, April.
    14. Duncombe, William & Miner, Jerry & Ruggiero, John, 1995. "Potential cost savings from school district consolidation: A case study of New York," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 14(3), pages 265-284, September.
    15. Oliver E. Williamson, 1967. "Hierarchical Control and Optimum Firm Size," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 75(2), pages 123-123.
    16. Charles M. Tiebout, 1956. "A Pure Theory of Local Expenditures," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 64(5), pages 416-416.
    17. Downes, Thomas A. & Pogue, Thomas F., 1994. "Adjusting School Aid Formulas for the Higher Cost of Educating Disadvantaged Students," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 47(1), pages 89-110, March.
    18. Kenny, Lawrence W., 1982. "Economies of scale in schooling," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 2(1), pages 1-24, February.
    19. Wales, Terence J, 1973. "The Effect of School and District Size on Education Costs in British Columbia," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 14(3), pages 710-720, October.
    20. K. Chakraborty & B. Biswas & WC. Lewis, 2000. "Economies of scale in public education: an econometric analysis," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 18(2), pages 238-247, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Rhys Andrews, 2012. "Local Government Size and Efficiency in Labour Intensive Public Services: Evidence from Local Educational Authorities in England," International Center for Public Policy Working Paper Series, at AYSPS, GSU paper1214, International Center for Public Policy, Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, Georgia State University.
    2. Jos L. T. Blank & Thomas K. Niaounakis, 2019. "Managing Size of Public Schools and School Boards: A Multi-Level Cost Approach Applied to Dutch Primary Education," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(23), pages 1-11, November.
    3. Andrews, Matthew & Duncombe, William & Yinger, John, 2002. "Revisiting economies of size in American education: are we any closer to a consensus?," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 21(3), pages 245-262, June.
    4. Fox, William F. & Gurley, Tami, 2006. "Will consolidation improve sub-national governments ?," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3913, The World Bank.
    5. Marvin E. Dodson & Thomas A. Garrett, 2004. "Inefficient Education Spending in Public School Districts: A Case for Consolidation?," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 22(2), pages 270-280, April.
    6. Miriam Hortas-Rico & Vicente Rios, 2020. "Is there an optimal size for local governments? A spatial panel data model approach," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 54(7), pages 958-973, July.
    7. Sakari Lähdemäki & Eero Lehto & Eero Mäkynen, 2018. "The Role of Natural Resources and Geography for Productivity in Developed Countries," Working Papers 320, Työn ja talouden tutkimus LABORE, The Labour Institute for Economic Research LABORE.
    8. Richard Buddin & Brian Gill & Ron Zimmer, 2004. "Examining Federal Impact Aid's Reimbursement for Local School Districts," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 22(4), pages 534-543, October.
    9. Rhys Andrews & George A. Boyne, 2009. "Size, Structure and Administrative Overheads: An Empirical Analysis of English Local Authorities," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 46(4), pages 739-759, April.
    10. Juan Luis Gómez‐Reino & Santiago Lago‐Peñas & Jorge Martinez‐Vazquez, 2023. "Evidence on economies of scale in local public service provision: A meta‐analysis," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 63(4), pages 793-819, September.
    11. Colegrave, Andrew D. & Giles, Margaret J., 2008. "School cost functions: A meta-regression analysis," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 27(6), pages 688-696, December.
    12. Mogues, Tewodaj & Benin, Samuel, 2012. "Do External Grants to District Governments Discourage Own Revenue Generation? A Look at Local Public Finance Dynamics in Ghana," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 40(5), pages 1054-1067.
    13. Edoardo Di Porto & Angela Parenti & Sonia Paty & Zineb Abidi, 2017. "Local government cooperation at work: a control function approach," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 17(2), pages 435-463.
    14. Purnamita Dasgupta & Bishwanath Goldar, 2018. "Costing for Elevation in Development Expenditure: Illustrative Evidence from India," Journal of Quantitative Economics, Springer;The Indian Econometric Society (TIES), vol. 16(3), pages 811-830, September.
    15. Chatelain, Jean-Bernard & Ralf, Kirsten, 2021. "Inference on time-invariant variables using panel data: A pretest estimator," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 157-166.
    16. William Duncombe & John Yinger, 2001. "Does School Consolidation Cut Costs?," Center for Policy Research Working Papers 33, Center for Policy Research, Maxwell School, Syracuse University.
    17. Mittag, Nikolas, 2012. "New methods to estimate models with large sets of fixed effects with an application to matched employer-employee data from Germany," FDZ Methodenreport 201201_en, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany].
    18. repec:iab:iabfme:201201(en is not listed on IDEAS
    19. Gustavo Canavire-Bacarreza & Jorge Martinez-Vazquez & Bauyrzhan Yedgenov, 2017. "Reexamining the determinants of fiscal decentralization: what is the role of geography?," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 17(6), pages 1209-1249.
    20. Christopher C. Klein, 2007. "Efficiency versus Effectiveness: Interpreting Education Production Studies," Working Papers 200703, Middle Tennessee State University, Department of Economics and Finance.
    21. Juan Luis Gómez-Reino & Santiago Lago-Peñas & Jorge Martinez-Vazquez, 2021. "Evidence on economies of scale in local public service provision: a meta-analysis," Working Papers. Collection A: Public economics, governance and decentralization 2103, Universidade de Vigo, GEN - Governance and Economics research Network.

    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:elg:eechap:15294_7. 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.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with 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: Darrel McCalla (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.e-elgar.com .

    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.