I Don't Care to Belong to Any Club That Will Have Me as a Member: Empirical Analysis of Municipal Mergers

2013 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 97-117 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tuukka Saarimaa ◽  
Janne Tukiainen
Keyword(s):  
Population Size ◽  
Empirical Analysis ◽  
Economies Of Scale ◽  
Empirical Work ◽  
Local Public Goods ◽  
Local Democracy ◽  
Public Goods Provision ◽  
Trade Off ◽  
Voter Preferences ◽  
Fiscal Pressure

The efficiencyof local public goods provision and the functioning of local democracy crucially depend on the size and number of local jurisdictions. This article empirically analyzes voluntary municipal mergers in Finland. Our main focus is on aspects that have been somewhat neglected in prior empirical work: whether local democracy considerations, representation and voter preferences are involved in shaping the resulting municipal structure. The main results imply that some municipalities are forced to merge due to fiscal pressure and have to trade off political power to be accepted by their partners. The study also finds that the median voter's distance from services matters, while population size does not. The latter, somewhat surprising, observation is possibly explained by existing municipal co-operation, which already exhausts potential economies of scale.

Voluntary Cooperation in Local Public Goods Provision: An Experimental Study

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrej Angelovski ◽  
Daniela Di Cagno ◽  
Werner GGth ◽  
Francesca Marazzi ◽  
Luca Panaccione
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Study ◽  
Public Goods ◽  
Local Public Goods ◽  
Public Goods Provision ◽  
Voluntary Cooperation

scholarly journals Small population size and low genomic diversity have no effect on fitness in experimental translocations of a wild fish

2019 ◽  
Vol 286 (1916) ◽  
pp. 20191989 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. C. Yates ◽  
E. Bowles ◽  
D. J. Fraser
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Diversity ◽  
Body Size ◽  
Population Size ◽  
Brook Trout ◽  
Habitat Degradation ◽  
Species Conservation ◽  
Empirical Work ◽  
Genomic Diversity ◽  
Effective Population ◽  
Isolated Populations

Little empirical work in nature has quantified how wild populations with varying effective population sizes and genetic diversity perform when exposed to a gradient of ecologically important environmental conditions. To achieve this, juvenile brook trout from 12 isolated populations or closed metapopulations that differ substantially in population size and genetic diversity were transplanted to previously fishless ponds spanning a wide gradient of ecologically important variables. We evaluated the effect of genome-wide variation, effective population size ( N e ), pond habitat, and initial body size on two fitness correlates (survival and growth). Genetic variables had no effect on either fitness correlate, which was determined primarily by habitat (pond temperature, depth, and pH) and initial body size. These results suggest that some vertebrate populations with low genomic diversity, low N e , and long-term isolation can represent important sources of variation and are capable of maintaining fitness in, and ultimately persisting and adapting to, changing environments. Our results also reinforce the paramount importance of improving available habitat and slowing habitat degradation for species conservation.

Identifying voter preferences: The trade-off between honesty and competence

2018 ◽  
Vol 105 ◽  
pp. 27-50
Author(s):  
Fabio Galeotti ◽  
Daniel John Zizzo
Keyword(s):  
Trade Off ◽  
Voter Preferences

scholarly journals Estimating Dynamic Games of Electoral Competition to Evaluate Term Limits in US Gubernatorial Elections

2017 ◽  
Vol 107 (7) ◽  
pp. 1824-1857 ◽  
Author(s):  
Holger Sieg ◽  
Chamna Yoon
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Empirical Analysis ◽  
Dynamic Games ◽  
Electoral Competition ◽  
Term Limits ◽  
Relative Importance ◽  
Political Candidates ◽  
Trade Off ◽  
Perfect Monitoring ◽  
The Empirical Analysis

This paper shows how to identify and estimate, using standard semi-parametric techniques, a class of dynamic games with perfect monitoring, that have been at the frontier of recent research in political economy. The empirical analysis provides novel quantitative insights into the trade-off that voters face between ideology and ability, the differences in ability and ideology among parties and states, and the differences in preferences between political candidates and voters. We analyze the consequences of term limits and quantify their relative importance. Specifically, we characterize conditions under which term limits improve voters' welfare. (JEL C57, C73, D72)

Size, Scope, and Bias: What Differentiates Local Electoral Politics?

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Eric Oliver ◽  
Shang E. Ha ◽  
Zachary Callen
Keyword(s):  
Interest Groups ◽  
Population Size ◽  
Electoral Politics ◽  
The Political ◽  
Local Democracy ◽  
Political Dynamics ◽  
The Universe

This chapter outlines a relatively simple way of understanding the dynamics of local democracy. Across the universe of democracies, three characteristics are the most powerful and widely applicable predictors of their electoral politics: size, scope, and bias. Once we know a democracy's population (size), the magnitude of its constitutive powers (scope), and how uniformly it distributes its resources (bias), we can predict a great deal about who votes, who runs for office, and whether factors like incumbency, parties, ideology, issues, interest groups, and candidate charisma shape vote choices. In other words, we can best predict how people will vote in a particular election if we first understand what is distinctive about that democracy's politics and, if we know its size, scope, and bias, we can predict what those electoral politics are like. The political dynamics of size, scope, and bias are examined in turn.

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