IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecolet/v253y2025ics0165176525001910.html

The vertical fiscal externalities of a territorial reform: Evidence from Brazil

Author

Listed:
  • Santos, Antonio Marcos Silva
  • Lima, Ricardo Carvalho de Andrade

Abstract

Do fiscal shocks associated with a government’s territorial reform generate vertical fiscal externalities for local governments? This paper investigates how local governments responded in terms of public spending to the creation of the Brazilian state of Tocantins in 1988. Using a dynamic Difference-in-Differences approach, we find that municipalities affected by changes in the second-tier government experienced a sharp reduction in public spending in the years following the reform. This may have been partly driven by the reduction in intergovernmental central transfers to the affected municipalities after the reform, which constrained their fiscal capacity.

Suggested Citation

  • Santos, Antonio Marcos Silva & Lima, Ricardo Carvalho de Andrade, 2025. "The vertical fiscal externalities of a territorial reform: Evidence from Brazil," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 253(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolet:v:253:y:2025:i:c:s0165176525001910
    DOI: 10.1016/j.econlet.2025.112354
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0165176525001910
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.econlet.2025.112354?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

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. David R. Agrawal & Jan K. Brueckner & Marius Brülhart, 2024. "Fiscal Federalism in the Twenty-First Century," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 16(1), pages 429-454, August.
    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. Reingewertz, Yaniv, 2012. "Do municipal amalgamations work? Evidence from municipalities in Israel," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 72(2), pages 240-251.
    4. Dahlby, Bev & Wilson, Leonard S., 2003. "Vertical fiscal externalities in a federation," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(5-6), pages 917-930, May.
    5. Manuel E. Lago & Santiago Lago-Peñas & Jorge Martinez-Vazquez, 2024. "On the effects of intergovernmental grants: a survey," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 31(3), pages 856-908, June.
    6. 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.
    7. Tyrefors Hinnerich, Björn, 2009. "Do merging local governments free ride on their counterparts when facing boundary reform?," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(5-6), pages 721-728, June.
    8. Ricardo Carvalho de Andrade Lima & Raul da Mota Silveira Neto, 2018. "Secession of municipalities and economies of scale: Evidence from Brazil," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 58(1), pages 159-180, January.
    9. Lima Ricardo Carvalho de Andrade, 2021. "The Economic Impact of State Splitting in Brazil," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 21(1), pages 417-432, January.
    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. Davide Luca & Felix Modrego, 2021. "Stronger together? Assessing the causal effect of inter‐municipal cooperation on the efficiency of small Italian municipalities," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 61(1), pages 261-293, January.
    2. Masayoshi Hayashi & Takafumi Suzuki, 2018. "Municipal Mergers and Capitalization: Evaluating the Heisei Territorial Reform in Japan," CIRJE F-Series CIRJE-F-1105, CIRJE, Faculty of Economics, University of Tokyo.
    3. Hirota, Haruaki & Iwata, Kazuyuki & Tanaka, Kenta, 2022. "Is public official training effective at reducing costs? Evidence from survey data on Japanese municipal mergers," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 145-158.
    4. Tavares Antonio F., 2018. "Municipal amalgamations and their effects: a literature review," Miscellanea Geographica. Regional Studies on Development, Sciendo, vol. 22(1), pages 5-15, March.
    5. Potrafke, Niklas & Roesel, Felix, 2025. "Online versus offline: Which networks spur protests?," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 229(C).
    6. Hitoshi Saito & Haruaki Hirota & Hideo Yunoue & Miki Miyaki, 2023. "Do municipal mergers internalise spatial spillover effects? empirical evidence from Japanese municipalities," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 70(2), pages 379-406, April.
    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. Gissur Ó Erlingsson & Jonas Klarin & Eva Maria Mörk, 2021. "Does Size Matter? Evidence from Municipality Break-Ups," CESifo Working Paper Series 9042, CESifo.
    9. 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.
    10. Wei Tang & Geoffrey J.D. Hewings, 2017. "Do city–county mergers in China promote local economic development?," The Economics of Transition, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, vol. 25(3), pages 439-469, July.
    11. Feld, Lars P. & Fritz, Benedikt, 2015. "The political economy of municipal amalgamation: Evidence of common pool effects and local public debt," Freiburg Discussion Papers on Constitutional Economics 15/10, Walter Eucken Institut e.V..
    12. Saarimaa, Tuukka & Tukiainen, Janne, 2016. "Local representation and strategic voting: Evidence from electoral boundary reforms," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 31-45.
    13. Haruaki Hirota & Hideo Yunoue, 2026. "Under control versus self-reconstruction after fiscal bankruptcy in municipalities," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 33(1), pages 234-279, February.
    14. 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.
    15. 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.
    16. 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.
    17. repec:dgr:rugsom:14019-eef is not listed on IDEAS
    18. Peter H Egger & Marko Koethenbuerger & Gabriel Loumeau, 2022. "Local border reforms and economic activity," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 22(1), pages 81-102.
    19. Astrid Marie Jorde Sandsør & Torberg Falch & Bjarne Strøm, 2022. "Long‐run Effects of Local Government Mergers on Educational Attainment and Income," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 84(1), pages 185-213, February.
    20. Tsuyoshi Goto & Sandra Sekgetle & Takashi Kuramoto, 2019. "Municipal Merger and Debt Issuance in South African Municipality," OSIPP Discussion Paper 19E001, Osaka School of International Public Policy, Osaka University.
    21. Saito, Hitoshi & Hirota, Haruaki & Yunoue, Hideo & Miyaki, Miki, 2017. "Does municipal mergers internalize spatial spillover effects? Empirical evidence from Japanese municipalities," MPRA Paper 76833, University Library of Munich, Germany.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • H11 - Public Economics - - Structure and Scope of Government - - - Structure and Scope of Government
    • H77 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - Intergovernmental Relations; Federalism
    • R11 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Regional Economic Activity: Growth, Development, Environmental Issues, and Changes

    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:eee:ecolet:v:253:y:2025:i:c:s0165176525001910. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/ecolet .

    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.