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Does government fragmentation enhance or hinder metropolitan economic growth?

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  • Georg Grassmueck
  • Martin Shields

Abstract

Economic growth is an important priority for many local governments. There is a long‐standing theoretical debate on how to best organize government for economic growth. There is surprisingly little empirical research focusing on how government organization affects regional growth. In this paper we forward several recent measures of government fragmentation in contrast to the common measure of government units per capita to examine how government competition influences growth, testing them in a metropolitan statistics area (MSA) growth model for 1992−2002. Going somewhat against the current embrace of regional collaboration, our results suggest that regions with relatively fragmented governments had stronger relative economic performance over the study's time frame. Resumen El crecimiento económico es una prioridad importante para muchos gobiernos locales. Existe un debate teórico desde hace tiempo acerca de la mejor manera de organizar el gobierno para el crecimiento económico. Sorprendentemente apenas existe investigación empírica dedicada a cómo afecta la organización gubernamental al crecimiento regional. En este artículo avanzamos en el estudio de varias medidas recientes de fragmentación gubernamental en contraste con la medida habitual de unidades de gobierno per cápita para examinar como influye en el crecimiento la competencia gubernamental, probándolas en un modelo de crecimiento de área estadística metropolitana (MSA, siglas en inglés) para 1992–2002. En contra en cierto modo de la corriente actual de colaboración regional, nuestros resultados sugieren que las regiones con gobiernos relativamente fragmentados manifestaron un desempeño económico relativo más fuerte para el periodo del estudio.

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  • Georg Grassmueck & Martin Shields, 2010. "Does government fragmentation enhance or hinder metropolitan economic growth?," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 89(3), pages 641-657, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:presci:v:89:y:2010:i:3:p:641-657
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1435-5957.2010.00278.x
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    Cited by:

    1. Richard Sadler & Dayne Walling & Zac Buchalski & Alan Harris, 2020. "Are Metropolitan Areas Primed for Success? A Prosperity Risk Index for Evaluating Economic Development Patterns," Urban Planning, Cogitatio Press, vol. 5(3), pages 323-337.
    2. 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.
    3. Conroy, Tessa & Deller, Steven, 2021. "Spatial Patterns in the Relationship Between Religion and Economic Growth," Journal of Regional Analysis and Policy, Mid-Continent Regional Science Association, vol. 51(2), April.
    4. Andrea Filippetti & Giovanni Cerulli, 2018. "Are local public services better delivered in more autonomous regions? Evidence from European regions using a dose‐response approach," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 97(3), pages 801-826, August.
    5. Chris Benner & Manuel Pastor, 2015. "Brother, can you spare some time? Sustaining prosperity and social inclusion in America’s metropolitan regions," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 52(7), pages 1339-1356, May.
    6. Marco Di Cataldo & Licia Ferranna & Margherita Gerolimetto & Stefano Magrini, 2023. "Splitting Up or Dancing Together? Local Institutional Structure and the Performance of Urban Areas," Economic Geography, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 99(1), pages 81-110, January.
    7. Juan C. Duque & Nancy Lozano‐Gracia & Jorge E. Patino & Paula Restrepo Cadavid, 2021. "Institutional fragmentation and metropolitan coordination in Latin American cities: Are there links with city productivity?," Regional Science Policy & Practice, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 13(4), pages 1096-1128, August.
    8. Vicente Rios & Miriam Hortas-Rico & Pedro Pascual, 2022. "What shapes the flypaper effect? The role of the political environment in the budget process," Local Government Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 48(5), pages 793-820, September.
    9. Maria EL KHDARI & Babacar SARR, 2018. "Decentralization, spending efficiency and pro-poor outcomes in Morocco," Working Papers 201805, CERDI.
    10. Licia Ferranna & Margherita Gerolimetto & Stefano Magrini, 2016. "Urban Governance Structure and Wage Disparities across US Metropolitan Areas," Working Papers 2016:26, Department of Economics, University of Venice "Ca' Foscari".
    11. Richard Sadler & Dayne Walling & Zac Buchalski & Alan Harris, 2020. "Are Metropolitan Areas Primed for Success? A Prosperity Risk Index for Evaluating Economic Development Patterns," Urban Planning, Cogitatio Press, vol. 5(3), pages 323-337.
    12. Jaewoo Cho & Jae Hong Kim & Yonsu Kim, 2019. "Metropolitan governance structure and growth–inequality dynamics in the United States," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 51(3), pages 598-616, May.
    13. Goodman, Christopher B, 2019. "Political Fragmentation & Economic Growth in U.S. Metropolitan Areas," SocArXiv dx75m, Center for Open Science.

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