scholarly journals An Empirical Analysis of Scale Economies in Administrative Intensity in the Paraná State Local Government System in Brazil

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 591
Author(s):  
Luan V. Bernardelli ◽  
Brian E. Dollery ◽  
Michael A. Kortt
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Local Government ◽  
Empirical Analysis ◽  
Economies Of Scale ◽  
Scale Economies ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Social Variables ◽  
Municipal Administration ◽  
Government Functions ◽  
The Empirical Analysis

A substantial empirical study has investigated scale economies in local government functions, most notably in local transportation, water, and wastewater provision. By contrast, relatively little effort has been directed at the empirical analysis of economies of scale in municipal administration, including in Brazilian local government, despite its significance for public policy on structural reform in local government. In order to address this gap in the literature, we investigate administrative scale economies in the Paraná state local government system in Brazil over the period 2006 to 2018. We find that there was a ‘U-shaped’ scale effect between council size by population and administrative intensity after controlling for a range of economic and social variables. Various public policy implications are considered.

The evidence on the existence of economies Of scale in local government units

2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 379 ◽  
Author(s):  
Primož Pevcin
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Economies Of Scale ◽  
Returns To Scale ◽  
Scale Economies ◽  
Scale Efficiency ◽  
Data Envelopment ◽  
Administrative Costs ◽  
Government Operation ◽  
Major Reform ◽  
Limited Scale

<p>The purpose of this paper is to empirically verify if the possible existence of scale economies actually supports the argument that municipal consolidation is needed in Slovenia. The major reform of local self-government in Slovenia was implemented in 1994, when the transformation of existing 58 »communal« municipalities was envisaged. From 1995 onwards, the number of municipalities increased to the current number of 212 municipalities. Consequently, the necessity to implement structural reforms of local self-government in Slovenia has been stressed. The arguments favoring municipal amalgamations stressed that country has become too fragmented and municipal amalgamation would enable the reduction of (administrative) costs, and increase efficiency as well as quality of services provided, indicating that technical aspects of local government operation are targeted. Following, technical efficiency of Slovenian municipalities is estimated with the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) method, in order to determine if (and which) municipalities are experiencing increasing returns to scale (i.e., scale economies). The results indicate that there is important scale efficiency component, and predominantly very small municipalities are experiencing economies of scale, but their number is relatively low. Therefore, one of the classical arguments for municipal amalgamation, achieving economies of scale, can only be applied at a limited scale. This does not imply that more extensive amalgamation is not warranted, but it demands that other arguments justifying municipal amalgamation should be presented.  </p>

Informal taxes for the provision of public goods in Russian regions

2019 ◽  
pp. 124-134
Author(s):  
G. E. Besstremyannaya
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Public Goods ◽  
Empirical Analysis ◽  
Positive Relationship ◽  
Local Public Goods ◽  
Russian Regions ◽  
Tax Revenues ◽  
The Empirical Analysis ◽  
Statistical Agency

The article studies the example of informal taxes in Russia — a phenomenon when citizens provide voluntary payments for financing local public goods. This so-called “self-taxation” has attracted attention in 2017 upon the adoption of the changes to the local government law, which simplified the procedure for local referendum. The article outlines institutional reasons for the emergence of this mechanism and its risks for Russia and other countries. The empirical analysis exploits the data by the Russian Statistical Agency and the Russian Treasury. Our results reveal a positive relationship between the coefficient of regional cofinancing of municipal projects and the growth in the share of voluntary payments in the non-tax revenues of local budgets. Therefore, self-taxation by citizens may be viewed as a signalling tool for enhancing the quality of local public goods.

Public goods production and value creation in wineries: a structural equation modelling

2020 ◽  
Vol 122 (5) ◽  
pp. 1705-1724 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giuseppe Marotta ◽  
Concetta Nazzaro
Keyword(s):  
Public Goods ◽  
Empirical Analysis ◽  
Value Creation ◽  
Structural Equation ◽  
Policy Instruments ◽  
Agricultural Economics ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Equation Modeling ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Empirical Analysis

PurposeThe aim of the study is to analyse the value creation processes in multifunctional wineries. Specifically, the paper poses the following research questions: can the creation of public goods (i.e. multifunctionality) open up new paths of value creation for wineries? And if so, can multifunctionality be only compensated through policy instruments? Or, is there a form of market compensation?Design/methodology/approachAn empirical analysis was carried out on selected wineries that sell directly. The study implemented the “value portfolio” model that identifies specific variables, both internal and external to the farm, which contribute to the value creation. The methodology adopted is a structural equation modeling (SEM) approach that offers a theoretical basis for developing an understanding of the relationships between group of variables.FindingsThe empirical analysis confirms the assumptions developed. Indeed, the localized public goods generated by multifunctional farms can benefit from compensation on the market through the direct sale of products and services.Originality/valueThe study’s findings are quite innovative in the field of agricultural economics and open the way for interesting policy implications.

scholarly journals Clusters in the Spread of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Evidence From the G20 Countries

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tian Meng
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Analysis ◽  
Capita Income ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Per Capita Income ◽  
Club Convergence ◽  
Daily Data ◽  
Per Capita ◽  
The Empirical Analysis

This study tests the validity of the club convergence clustering hypothesis in the G20 countries using four measures of the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic: total number of confirmed cases per million people, new cases per million people, total deaths per million people, and new deaths per million people. The empirical analysis is based on the daily data from March 1, 2020, to October 10, 2020. The results indicate three clusters for the per capita income, two clusters for total cases per million people, and new cases per million people. Besides, there are only one and two clusters for total deaths per million people and new deaths per million people. Potential policy implications are also discussed in detail.

Administrative scale economies in local government: An empirical analysis of Sabah municipalities, 2000 to 2009

Urban Studies ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 51 (13) ◽  
pp. 2899-2915 ◽  
Author(s):  
Siew King Ting ◽  
Brian Dollery ◽  
Rene Villano
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Empirical Analysis ◽  
Scale Economies

Self-employment and economic growth in developing countries: is more self-employment better?

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sridevi Yerrabati
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Developing Countries ◽  
Empirical Analysis ◽  
Empirical Relationship ◽  
Dynamic Panel Data ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Self Employment ◽  
Non Linear ◽  
The Empirical Analysis

PurposeThe study aims to examine the non-linear relationship between self-employment and economic growth (growth) in the context of developing countries.Design/methodology/approachData from a sample of 83 developing countries covering a period 2002–2015 is used. The empirical analysis is based on the dynamic panel data estimation, and the results are estimated using the two-step system GMM technique. Non-linearity between self-employment and growth is validated using Sasabuchi (1980) and Lind and Mehlum (2010) (SLM) test.FindingsThe empirical analysis suggests a non-linear and a U-shaped relationship between self-employment and growth, confirmed by the SLM test. The threshold levels for total self-employment, female self-employment and male self-employment are 57.49%, 58.86 and 55.81%. The findings are also robust to alternate estimation technique and alternate measure of the dependent variable.Practical implicationsPolicy implications of the findings include the need for policies that foster and channel self-employment properly as the higher level of self-employment is found to benefit growth.Originality/valueThis study is the first attempt to examine the empirical relationship between self-employment and growth. As such, it makes a novel contribution to the extant literature on the relationship between the two variables.

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