The Range of Local Public Services and Population Size: Is There a “Zoo Effect” in French Jurisdictions?
Type de matériel :
84
This paper is an original contribution to the limited research on the relationship between the range of local public services and population size. Using new data on French local jurisdictions, we test the hypothesis that larger jurisdictions provide a broader range of public goods (the so-called “zoo effect,” Oates [1988]). We take advantage of the fact that, in France, many municipalities recently joined together, forming groups of municipalities (or communities) in order to achieve economies of scale. Using spatial econometrics, we find some evidence for the zoo effect in French communities. In other words, larger communities provide a broader range of services than smaller ones. The intensity of the zoo effect is higher in urban than in rural areas.
Réseaux sociaux