IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/urbstu/v49y2012i12p2733-2750.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Municipal Preferences for State-imposed Amalgamations: An Empirical Study Based on the Swedish Municipal Reform of 1952

Author

Listed:
  • Niklas Hanes
  • Magnus Wikström
  • Erik WÃ¥ngmar

Abstract

This paper concerns municipal preferences for state-imposed municipal amalgamations, focusing on factors that may explain municipal acceptance of, or objection to, a state-imposed amalgamation decision. The empirical analysis is based on the extensive municipal reform that occurred in Sweden in 1952, which reduced the number of municipalities from 2498 to 1037. In 66 per cent of the amalgamated cases, at least one municipality complained. The results show that income differences affected the willingness to amalgamate; high-income municipalities opposed amalgamation with less wealthy municipalities. The results also indicate that the size (absolute and relative) of the municipalities affected their willingness to amalgamate. Small and large municipalities were most likely to accept the amalgamation decision and equally sized municipalities were less likely to amalgamate voluntarily.

Suggested Citation

  • Niklas Hanes & Magnus Wikström & Erik WÃ¥ngmar, 2012. "Municipal Preferences for State-imposed Amalgamations: An Empirical Study Based on the Swedish Municipal Reform of 1952," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 49(12), pages 2733-2750, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:49:y:2012:i:12:p:2733-2750
    DOI: 10.1177/0042098011429488
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0042098011429488
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0042098011429488?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. DeSerpa, Allan C, 1977. "A Theory of Discriminatory Clubs," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 24(1), pages 33-41, February.
    2. Alberto Alesina & Enrico Spolaore, 1997. "On the Number and Size of Nations," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 112(4), pages 1027-1056.
    3. Austin, D. Andrew, 1999. "Politics vs Economics: Evidence from Municipal Annexation," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 45(3), pages 501-532, May.
    4. Fisher, Ronald C. & Wassmer, Robert W., 1998. "Economic Influences on the Structure of Local Government in U.S. Metropolitan Areas," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(3), pages 444-471, May.
    5. Ellingsen, Tore, 1998. "Externalities vs internalities: a model of political integration," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(2), pages 251-268, May.
    6. Oates, Wallace E., 1993. "Fiscal Decentralization and Economic Development," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association, vol. 46(2), pages 237-43, June.
    7. repec:hrv:faseco:4553034 is not listed on IDEAS
    8. Alberto Alesina & Reza Baqir & Caroline Hoxby, 2004. "Political Jurisdictions in Heterogeneous Communities," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 112(2), pages 348-396, April.
    9. Alesina, Alberto & Perotti, Roberto & Spolaore, Enrico, 1995. "Togetheror separately? Issues on the costs and benefits of political and fiscal unions," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 39(3-4), pages 751-758, April.
    10. Wallace E. Oates & Wallace E. Oates, 2004. "Fiscal Decentralization and Economic Development," Chapters, in: Environmental Policy and Fiscal Federalism, chapter 21, pages 377-383, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    11. Brueckner, Jan K. & Lee, Kangoh, 1989. "Club theory with a peer-group effect," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(3), pages 399-420, August.
    12. Brasington, David M., 1999. "Joint provision of public goods: the consolidation of school districts," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(3), pages 373-393, September.
    13. Patrick Bolton & Gérard Roland, 1997. "The Breakup of Nations: A Political Economy Analysis," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 112(4), pages 1057-1090.
    14. Anna Brink, 2004. "The break-up of municipalities: Voting behavior in local referenda," Economics of Governance, Springer, vol. 5(2), pages 119-135, July.
    15. Martinez-Vazquez, Jorge & Rider, Mark & Walker, Mary Beth, 1997. "Race and the Structure of School Districts in the United States," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(2), pages 281-300, March.
    16. Dur, Robert & Staal, Klaas, 2008. "Local public good provision, municipal consolidation, and national transfers," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 38(2), pages 160-173, March.
    17. Liner, Gaines H, 1994. "Institutional Constraints, Annexation and Municipal Efficiency in the 1960s," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 79(3-4), pages 305-323, June.
    18. Alesina, Alberto & Perotti, Roberto & Spolaore, Enrico, 1995. "Togetheror separately? Issues on the costs and benefits of political and fiscal unions," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 39(3-4), pages 751-758, April.
    19. Kenny, Lawrence W & Schmidt, Amy B, 1994. "The Decline in the Number of School Districts in the U.S.: 1950-1980," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 79(1-2), pages 1-18, April.
    20. Nora Gordon & Brian Knight, 2006. "The Causes of Political Integration: An Application to School Districts," NBER Working Papers 12047, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    21. Scotchmer, Suzanne & Wooders, Myrna Holtz, 1987. "Competitive equilibrium and the core in club economies with anonymous crowding," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(2), pages 159-173, November.
    22. Gaines H. Liner, 1992. "Annexation Impact On Municipal Efficiency," The Review of Regional Studies, Southern Regional Science Association, vol. 22(1), pages 75-87, Summer.
    23. David M. Brasington, 2003. "Snobbery, Racism, or Mutual Distaste: What Promotes and Hinders Cooperation in Local Public-Good Provision?," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 85(4), pages 874-883, November.
    24. Niklas Hanes & Magnus Wikstrom, 2008. "Does the Local Government Structure Affect Population and Income Growth? An Empirical Analysis of the 1952 Municipal Reform in Sweden," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(4), pages 593-604.
    25. Duncombe, William & Miner, Jerry & Ruggiero, John, 1995. "Potential cost savings from school district consolidation: A case study of New York," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 14(3), pages 265-284, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Hyytinen, Ari & Saarimaa, Tuukka & Tukiainen, Janne, 2014. "Electoral vulnerability and size of local governments: Evidence from voting on municipal mergers," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 193-204.
    2. Kristina Söderholm & Elin Wihlborg, 2016. "Striving for Sustainable Development and the Coordinating Role of the Central Government: Lessons from Swedish Housing Policy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(8), pages 1-13, August.
    3. Lothar Grall & Juergen Meckl, 2016. "Natural Selection, Technological Progress, and the Origin of Human Longevity," MAGKS Papers on Economics 201645, Philipps-Universität Marburg, Faculty of Business Administration and Economics, Department of Economics (Volkswirtschaftliche Abteilung).
    4. Christian Bergholz & Ivo Bischoff, 2018. "Local council members’ view on intermunicipal cooperation: does office-related self-interest matter?," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 52(12), pages 1624-1635, December.
    5. Blesse, Sebastian & Heinemann, Friedrich, 2020. "Citizens’ trade-offs in state merger decisions: Evidence from a randomized survey experiment," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 180(C), pages 438-471.
    6. Christian Bergholz & Ivo Bischoff, 2019. "Citizens’ support for inter-municipal cooperation: evidence from a survey in the German state of Hesse," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 51(12), pages 1268-1283, March.
    7. Fitjar, Rune Dahl, 2019. "2019/01 Merging city and suburban governments: A public choice perspective on the Norwegian local government reform," UiS Working Papers in Economics and Finance 2019/1, University of Stavanger.
    8. Christian Bergholz & Ivo Bischoff, 2015. "Citizens‘ preferences for inter-municipal cooperation in rural areas: evidence from a survey in three Hessian counties," MAGKS Papers on Economics 201523, Philipps-Universität Marburg, Faculty of Business Administration and Economics, Department of Economics (Volkswirtschaftliche Abteilung).
    9. Lothar Grall & Juergen Meckl, 2016. "Ice Age Climate, Somatic Capital, and the Timing of the Neolithic Transition," MAGKS Papers on Economics 201644, Philipps-Universität Marburg, Faculty of Business Administration and Economics, Department of Economics (Volkswirtschaftliche Abteilung).
    10. Lothar Grall, 2016. "Geography, Parental Investment, and Comparative Economic Development," MAGKS Papers on Economics 201646, Philipps-Universität Marburg, Faculty of Business Administration and Economics, Department of Economics (Volkswirtschaftliche Abteilung).

    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. Björn Kauder, 2016. "Incorporation of municipalities and population growth: A propensity score matching approach," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 95(3), pages 539-554, August.
    2. Takeshi Miyazaki, 2014. "Municipal consolidation and local government behavior: evidence from Japanese voting data on merger referenda," Economics of Governance, Springer, vol. 15(4), pages 387-410, November.
    3. Takeshi Miyazaki, 2018. "Internalization of externalities and local government consolidation: empirical evidence from Japan," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 54(3), pages 1061-1086, May.
    4. Saarimaa, Tuukka & Tukiainen, Janne, 2012. "Politics in coalition formation of local governments," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 58528, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    5. Libman, Alexander Mikhailovich, 2009. "Эндогенные Границы И Распределение Власти В Федерациях И Международных Сообществах [ENDOGENOUS BOUNDARIES AND DISTRIBUTION OF POWER In the Federation]," MPRA Paper 16473, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Blesse, Sebastian & Heinemann, Friedrich, 2020. "Citizens’ trade-offs in state merger decisions: Evidence from a randomized survey experiment," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 180(C), pages 438-471.
    7. Lapointe, Simon, 2018. "“Love thy neighbour”? The effect of income and language differences on votes for municipal secessions," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 229-245.
    8. Miyazaki, Takeshi, 2013. "Municipal Consolidation and Local Government Behavior: Evidence from Japanese Voting Data on Merger Referenda," Discussion Paper Series 588, Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University.
    9. Dur, Robert & Staal, Klaas, 2008. "Local public good provision, municipal consolidation, and national transfers," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 38(2), pages 160-173, March.
    10. Bowman Cutter, W. & DeShazo, J.R., 2007. "The environmental consequences of decentralizing the decision to decentralize," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 53(1), pages 32-53, January.
    11. Rajashri Chakrabarti, 2005. "Gains from a Redrawing of Political Boundaries: Evidence from State Reorganization in India," Others 0512002, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    12. Nora Gordon & Brian Knight, 2006. "The Causes of Political Integration: An Application to School Districts," NBER Working Papers 12047, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    13. Pengju Zhang, 2023. "The fiscal and economic impacts of municipal dissolution: evidence from New York," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 30(4), pages 948-1001, August.
    14. Alesina, Alberto & Spolaore, Enrico, 2006. "Conflict, defense spending, and the number of nations," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 50(1), pages 91-120, January.
    15. Gordon, Nora & Knight, Brian, 2009. "A spatial merger estimator with an application to school district consolidation," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(5-6), pages 752-765, June.
    16. Hyytinen, Ari & Saarimaa, Tuukka & Tukiainen, Janne, 2014. "Electoral vulnerability and size of local governments: Evidence from voting on municipal mergers," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 193-204.
    17. Alberto Alesina & Eliana La Ferrara, 2003. "Ethnic Diversity and Economic Performance," Harvard Institute of Economic Research Working Papers 2028, Harvard - Institute of Economic Research.
    18. Hanes, Niklas, 2003. "Empirical Studies in Local Public Finance: Spillovers, Amalgamations, and Tactical Redistribution," Umeå Economic Studies 604, Umeå University, Department of Economics.
    19. Dokow, Elad & Luque, Jaime, 2019. "Provision of local public goods in mixed income communities," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 1-1.
    20. Robert Dur & Klaas Staal, 2003. "National Interference in Local Public Good Provision," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 03-074/1, Tinbergen Institute.

    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:49:y:2012:i:12:p:2733-2750. 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.