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Incorporation of Municipalities and Population Growth – A Propensity Score Matching Approach

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  • Björn Kauder

Abstract

During the 1960s and 1970s, the German state governments reduced the number of municipalities. Many independent municipalities in the outskirts of a city became a district of the respective city. Using propensity score matching, I examine how the reforms influenced population growth in these incorporated units. The results show that the population of small incorporated municipalities grew by about 47 percentage points faster than the population of small municipalities that remained independent. The results do not show that large incorporated municipalities grew faster than large municipalities that remained independent. Population growth was stronger in municipalities that were incorporated later.

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  • Björn Kauder, 2014. "Incorporation of Municipalities and Population Growth – A Propensity Score Matching Approach," ifo Working Paper Series 188, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich.
    • Handle: RePEc:ces:ifowps:_188
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    Cited by:

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    2. Roesel, Felix, 2017. "Do mergers of large local governments reduce expenditures? – Evidence from Germany using the synthetic control method," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 22-36.
    3. Kohei Suzuki & Kentaro Sakuwa, 2016. "Impact of municipal mergers on local population growth: an assessment of the merger of Japanese municipalities," Asia Pacific Journal of Public Administration, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(4), pages 223-238, October.
    4. Hirota, Haruaki & Yunoue, Hideo, 2017. "Evaluation of the fiscal effect on municipal mergers: Quasi-experimental evidence from Japanese municipal data," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 132-149.
    5. Hirota, Haruaki & Yunoue, Hideo, 2020. "Public investment and the fiscal common pool problem on municipal mergers in Japan," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 124-135.
    6. Blesse, Sebastian & Baskaran, Thushyanthan, 2016. "Do municipal mergers reduce costs? Evidence from a German federal state," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 54-74.
    7. Blesse Sebastian & Rösel Felix, 2017. "Was bringen kommunale Gebietsreformen?: Kausale Evidenz zu Hoffnungen, Risiken und alternativen Instrumenten," Perspektiven der Wirtschaftspolitik, De Gruyter, vol. 18(4), pages 307-324, November.
    8. Björn Kauder, 2015. "Spatial Administrative Structure And Intrametropolitan Tax Competition," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 55(4), pages 626-643, September.
    9. Sebastian Blesse & Felix Rösel, 2017. "Gebietsreformen: Hoffnungen, Risiken und Alternativen," ifo Working Paper Series 234, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich.

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