IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/urbstu/v23y1986i5p391-412.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Defining Equal Standards in Local Public Services

Author

Listed:
  • Glen Bramley

    (School for Advanced Urban Studies, University of Bristol)

Abstract

This paper explores different interpretations of the notion of equal standards in local public services, as applied to the systematic distribution of resources between localities. After discussing the context and goals of public resource distribution between territories, a typology of standards is defined and analysed in terms of simple microeconomic theory. From this analysis are drawn some conclusions about the applicability of different standards to different kinds of service and about systematic territorial distributional effects related to income and urban-rural character. The discussion is illustrated with examples drawn from United Kingdom systems including the Rate Support Grant. In the concluding section it is argued that standards should be explicit and that consistency with key value judgements should guide the choice of standards.

Suggested Citation

  • Glen Bramley, 1986. "Defining Equal Standards in Local Public Services," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 23(5), pages 391-412, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:23:y:1986:i:5:p:391-412
    DOI: 10.1080/00420988620080571
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1080/00420988620080571
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/00420988620080571?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
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Richard A. Musgrave, 1961. "Approaches to a Fiscal Theory of Political Federalism," NBER Chapters, in: Public Finances: Needs, Sources, and Utilization, pages 97-134, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Feldstein, Martin S, 1975. "Wealth Neutrality and Local Choice in Public Education," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 65(1), pages 75-89, March.
    3. Barnett, Richard R & Topham, Neville, 1980. "A Critique of Equalising Grants to Local Governments," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 27(3), pages 235-249, November.
    4. Joseph E. Stiglitz, 1977. "The Theory of Local Public Goods," International Economic Association Series, in: Martin S. Feldstein & Robert P. Inman (ed.), The Economics of Public Services, chapter 12, pages 274-333, Palgrave Macmillan.
    5. Fabrikant, Richard, 1977. "A Long Overdue Comment on Shoup's "Standards for Distributing a Free Governmental Service: Crime Prevention."," Public Finance = Finances publiques, , vol. 32(1), pages 111-118.
    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. Bird, Richard M. & Smart, Michael, 2002. "Intergovernmental Fiscal Transfers: International Lessons for Developing Countries," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 30(6), pages 899-912, June.
    2. Alain Guengant, 1993. "Équité, efficacité et égalisation fiscale territoriale," Revue Économique, Programme National Persée, vol. 44(4), pages 835-848.
    3. Albouy, David, 2012. "Evaluating the efficiency and equity of federal fiscal equalization," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(9-10), pages 824-839.
    4. Robert W. Gilmer & Daniel C. Morgan Jr., 1979. "Wealth Neutral Grants for Public Education," Public Finance Review, , vol. 7(3), pages 259-281, July.
    5. Acocella Nicola & Di Bartolomeo Giovanni, 2013. "Population location, commuting and local public goods: A political economy approach," wp.comunite 0105, Department of Communication, University of Teramo.
    6. Arjan Lejour & Harrie Verbon, 1997. "Tax Competition and Redistribution in a Two-Country Endogenous-Growth Model," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 4(4), pages 485-497, November.
    7. Eric A. Hanushek & Kuzey Yilmaz, 2007. "Schools and Location: Tiebout, Alonso, and Government Policy," NBER Working Papers 12960, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Ahlfeldt, Gabriel M. & Wendlan, Nicolai, 2008. "Spatial Determinants of CBD Emergence: A Micro-level Case Study on Berlin∗," MPRA Paper 11572, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Albouy, David & Behrens, Kristian & Robert-Nicoud, Frédéric & Seegert, Nathan, 2019. "The optimal distribution of population across cities," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 102-113.
    10. Duranton, Gilles & Puga, Diego, 2014. "The Growth of Cities," Handbook of Economic Growth, in: Philippe Aghion & Steven Durlauf (ed.), Handbook of Economic Growth, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 5, pages 781-853, Elsevier.
    11. Fabio Fiorillo & Agnese Sacchi, 2012. "The Political Economy of the Standard Level of Services: The Role of Income Distribution," CESifo Working Paper Series 3696, CESifo.
    12. Leach, John, 1996. "Training, migration, and regional income disparities," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(3), pages 429-443, September.
    13. Volker Meier, 2000. "Time preference, international migration, and social security," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 13(1), pages 127-146.
    14. Roy Roy, 2004. "Impact of School Finance Reform on Resource Equalization and Academic Performance: Evidence from Michigan," Working Papers 8, Princeton University, School of Public and International Affairs, Education Research Section..
    15. Jorge Baldrich, 2010. "Taxing Our Neighbors? Why Some Sub-National Revenues Are So Small," Working Papers 100, Universidad de San Andres, Departamento de Economia, revised Mar 2010.
    16. Economou, Emmanouel/Marios/Lazaros & Kyriazis, Nicholas, 2015. "The Greek democratic federations and the European Union’s integration," MPRA Paper 62988, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    17. Roberto Brunetti & Carl Gaigné & Fabien Moizeau, 2023. "Credit Market Imperfections, Urban Land Rents and the Henry George Theorem," Revue économique, Presses de Sciences-Po, vol. 74(5), pages 681-703.
    18. Lisa Grazzini & Alessandro Petretto, 2006. "Vertical Tax Competition with Tax Sharing and Equalization Grants," Giornale degli Economisti, GDE (Giornale degli Economisti e Annali di Economia), Bocconi University, vol. 65(1), pages 75-94, May.
    19. Ana B. Ania & Andreas Wagener, 2021. "Laboratory federalism with public funds sharing," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 59(3), pages 1047-1065, July.
    20. Falch, Torberg & Rattso, Jorn, 1999. "Local public choice of school spending: disaggregating the demand function for educational services," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 18(3), pages 361-373, June.

    More about this item

    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:sae:urbstu:v:23:y:1986:i:5:p:391-412. 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: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.gla.ac.uk/departments/urbanstudiesjournal .

    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.