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Quantifying Spatial Misallocation In Centrally Provided Public Goods

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  • Siva Athreya

    (Indian Statistical Institute)

  • Rohini Somanathan

    (Delhi School of Economics)

Abstract

We show how an optimization algorithm can be used to approximately quan-tify the costs to users of spatial misallocation in centrally provided public goods. This method can be employed to evaluate the large programs of public good construction that have been central features of economic plans in many developing countries. We apply these methods to the allocation of post-offices in an administrative block of South India between 1981-1991 and find that more appropriate choices for post office locations could have reduced aggregate costs of travel to citizens in this area by at least 20%.

Suggested Citation

  • Siva Athreya & Rohini Somanathan, 2006. "Quantifying Spatial Misallocation In Centrally Provided Public Goods," Working papers 148, Centre for Development Economics, Delhi School of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:cde:cdewps:148
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Esther Duflo, 2001. "Schooling and Labor Market Consequences of School Construction in Indonesia: Evidence from an Unusual Policy Experiment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 91(4), pages 795-813, September.
    2. M. L. Fisher & D. S. Hochbaum, 1980. "Probabilistic Analysis of the Planar k -Median Problem," Mathematics of Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 5(1), pages 27-34, February.
    3. Knight, Brian, 2004. "Parochial interests and the centralized provision of local public goods: evidence from congressional voting on transportation projects," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(3-4), pages 845-866, March.
    4. Banerjee, Abhijit & Somanathan, Rohini, 2007. "The political economy of public goods: Some evidence from India," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 82(2), pages 287-314, March.
    5. Alberto Alesina & Reza Baqir & William Easterly, 1999. "Public Goods and Ethnic Divisions," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 114(4), pages 1243-1284.
    6. Khwaja, Asim Ijaz, 2001. "Can Good Projects Succeed in Bad Communities? Collective Action in the Himalayas," Working Paper Series rwp01-043, Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government.
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    Cited by:

    1. Guilhem Cassan, 2015. "Identity-Based Policies and Identity Manipulation: Evidence from Colonial Punjab," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 7(4), pages 103-131, November.
    2. Cledwyn Fernandez, 2023. "Competition between postal and bank branches for household savings: Empirical evidence from India," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 44(8), pages 4363-4376, December.
    3. Fredriksson, Anders, 2017. "Location-allocation of public services – Citizen access, transparency and measurement. A method and evidence from Brazil and Sweden," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 1-12.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • H41 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods - - - Public Goods
    • C61 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Mathematical Methods; Programming Models; Mathematical and Simulation Modeling - - - Optimization Techniques; Programming Models; Dynamic Analysis

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