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Country size and publicly provided goods

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Author Info
Klaas Staal (IIW, University Bonn, Lennéstraße 37, 53113, Bonn, Germany. kstaal@unibonn.de)
Abstract

This paper studies the equilibrium size of countries. Individuals in small countries have greater influence over the nature of political decision making while individuals in large countries have the advantage of more public goods and lower tax rates. The model implies that (i) there exists excessive incentives to separate, though this need not be the case for all sets of secession rules studied; (ii) an exogenous increase in public spending decreases country size; (iii) countries with a presidential-congressional democracy are larger than countries with a parliamentary democracy.

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Publisher Info
Paper provided by SFB/TR 15 Governance and the Efficiency of Economic Systems, Free University of Berlin, Humboldt University of Berlin, University of Bonn, University of Mannheim, University of Munich in its series Discussion Papers with number 187.

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Date of creation: Dec 2006
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Handle: RePEc:trf:wpaper:187

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Related research
Keywords: country size public spending structure of government

Find related papers by JEL classification:
D7 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making
H1 - Public Economics - - Structure and Scope of Government
H2 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue
H7 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations

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    Other versions:
  2. Persson, Torsten & Tabellini, Guido, 1996. "Federal Fiscal Constitutions: Risk Sharing and Moral Hazard," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 64(3), pages 623-46, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  9. Torsten Persson & Gerard Roland & Guido Tabellini, 2000. "Comparative Politics and Public Finance," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 108(6), pages 1121-1161, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  10. Bolton, Patrick & Roland, Gerard & Spolaore, Enrico, 1996. "Economic theories of the break-up and integration of nations," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 40(3-5), pages 697-705, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  12. Shlomo Weber & Michel Le Breton, 2001. "The Art of Making Everybody Happy: How to Prevent a Secession," IMF Working Papers 01/176, International Monetary Fund. [Downloadable!]
  13. Le Breton, M. & Weber, S., 2001. "The Art of Making Everybody Happy: how to Prevent a Secession," Papers 0111, Catholique de Louvain - Center for Operations Research and Economics.
  14. Persson, Torsten & Tabellini, Guido, 1996. "Federal Fiscal Constitutions: Risk Sharing and Redistribution," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 104(5), pages 979-1009, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  15. Buchanan, James M & Faith, Roger L, 1987. "Secession and the Limits of Taxation: Toward a Theory of Internal Exit," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 77(5), pages 1023-31, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  17. Alesina, Alberto & Spolaore, Enrico, 1997. "On the Number and Size of Nations," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 112(4), pages 1027-56, November.
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  18. Fidrmuc, Jan, 1999. "Stochastic Shocks and Incentives for (Dis)Integration," CEPR Discussion Papers 2104, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  19. Dani Rodrik, 1998. "Why Do More Open Economies Have Bigger Governments?," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 106(5), pages 997-1032, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  20. Bordignon, Massimo & Brusco, Sandro, 2001. "Optimal secession rules," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 45(10), pages 1811-1834, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
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