Journal article
Brazilian Municipal Expenditure and Scale Economies: Evidence from São Paulo
Public Administration Quarterly, Vol.45(2), pp.166-187
15/05/2021
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Abstract
Advocates of municipal mergers usually claim that considerable economies of scale flow from council consolidations, which result in larger local government organizations. We examined whether scale economies are present in municipal outlays by investigating the expenditure of 644 São Paulo municipal areas using data over the period 2005 to 2017. We find evidence that considerable scale economies characterize municipal expenditure in São Paulo. However, given that population size and population density are positively correlated, it is critical to determine whether or not the influence of population on municipal expenditure arises because of disparities in density. We find that when São Paulo municipalities are decomposed into sub-categories based on different population densities, evidence in favour of scale economies persists. Thus, municipal mergers in the state of São Paulo may result in lower per capita expenditure.
Details
- Title
- Brazilian Municipal Expenditure and Scale Economies: Evidence from São Paulo
- Creators
- Luan V Bernardelli - State University of ParanaMichael A Kortt - Southern Cross UniversityBrian Dollery - University of New England
- Publication Details
- Public Administration Quarterly, Vol.45(2), pp.166-187
- Publisher
- Southern Public Administration Education Foundation, Inc.
- Identifiers
- 991012930799502368
- Academic Unit
- Management; Faculty of Business, Law and Arts
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Journal article