Municipal amalgamations and their effects: a literature review

Tavares, António F.

doi:10.2478/mgrsd-2018-0005

Cited by 108 publications

(78 citation statements)

References 91 publications

(63 reference statements)

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“…For local service delivery, the literature has argued that for these reasons centralization may not be a desirable alternative (see Tavares and Feiock ). Recent reviews of amalgamation outcomes by Tavares () and Swianiewicz () show that scale economies are only captured for a small subset of amalgamations. Thus, while centralization is a potential solution to the multiple principal problem, it is often an inefficient solution.…”

Section: Institutional Responsesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multiple principals, multiple problems: Implications for effective governance and a research agenda for joint service delivery

Voorn

Genugten

Thiel

2019

Public Administration

110

103

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The multiple principal problem refers to multiple collective action problems that organizations face when they must balance (competing) interests of multiple stakeholders under joint service delivery. It negatively affects different types of organization, yet we know little about how organizations (can) mitigate it. We expand a framework based on principal–agent theory, review the literature, and consider implications for effective governance of joint service delivery in the public sector. We observe that joint service delivery can lead to free‐riding and duplication in monitoring, lobbying by principals, and increased autonomy for agents, leading to inefficiency. We build a research agenda and tentatively suggest, based on the literature, that an interface approach, where an elected unitary actor is placed in a middle tier between politics and service delivery, might best mitigate the multiple principal problem, which is currently not dealt with effectively in public management.

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Section: Institutional Responsesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multiple principals, multiple problems: Implications for effective governance and a research agenda for joint service delivery

Voorn

Genugten

Thiel

2019

Public Administration

110

103

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…Noteworthy were the studies comparing many countries, which included works by Walker and Andrews [17], Koprić et al [18], but also Kuhlmann and Bogumil [19]. However, the most comprehensive meta-analyses were presented by Swianiewicz et al [20], Tavares [21], Schwab at al. [22], Blum-Hansen et al [23], and Gendźwiłł et al [24].…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Globalization or glocalization - global trends, local effects of territorial reforms

Kachniarz

2021

SHS Web of Conf.

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Research background: The globalization processes are not only of an economic and cultural nature - but they also unify trends in the organization and management of administration, including at the local level. The idea of economization of administration was promoted in the broad stream of reforms described as New Public Management. It was often expressed as a postulate of the territorial reorganization of local governments. The reforms of these structures, motivated by the economies of scale, were to lead to the elimination of their allegedly too fragmented nature. Purpose of the article: The questions about the global scale and effectiveness of these reforms resulted in the objectives of the study, which were formulated as follows: - identification of the scope and scale of territorial reforms and assessment of their global character; - evaluation of the real impact of these reforms in terms of economies of scale. Methods: Methodologically, the work is the critical meta-analysis of the research results of consolidation reforms from many countries of the world. Findings & Value added: The results lead to the conclusion that consolidation is a global trend. However, they do not unequivocally confirm the successes in achieving economies of scale in the provision of public services. The added value of this research is to draw attention to the fact that uncritical implementation of global trends does not automatically bring the assumed effects. It is necessary to apply in practice glocalization, i.e. critical adaptation of global solutions to local institutional conditions.

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“…There are several recent publications on those issues, having character of meta-analysis of individual empirical studies, allowing to draw general conclusions (see e.g. [4], [5], [7], [16]). But all of those studies almost entirely over-look the fact that the merger reforms are not the only type of municipal boundary changes.…”

Section: Municipal Boundary Reforms In Europe 1998-2018mentioning

confidence: 99%

Municipal Divorces – The Under Researched Toipic of Territorial Reforms in Europe

Swianiewicz¹

2019

AGB

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Territorial-administrative organization belongs to the most important and highly debated topics of political geography. The paper focuses on boundary changes on a municipal level. Territorial amalgamation reforms have attracted a lot of attention of scholars from different disciplines, recently resulting also in meta-analyses of studies of impacts of those reforms. But the opposite process -of territorial fragmentation (splits or "divorces" of municipalities) has not attracted sufficient attention of academic community. And in the practice of Central and Eastern Europe this type of reforms has been at least equally frequent and equally important as territorial consolidation reforms. Immediately after 1989/1990 turn-over we could note massive territorial fragmentation in several countries of former Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, Hungary and some others. But also more recently, within last 20 years there have been several cases of "municipal divorces". The paper provides inventory and draws general picture of such changes in 7 countries of the region () and discusses both factors beyond the divorce initiatives as well as possible consequences for local democracy and local public service provision.

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Municipal amalgamations and their effects: a literature review

Cited by 108 publications

References 91 publications

Multiple principals, multiple problems: Implications for effective governance and a research agenda for joint service delivery

Multiple principals, multiple problems: Implications for effective governance and a research agenda for joint service delivery

Globalization or glocalization - global trends, local effects of territorial reforms

Municipal Divorces – The Under Researched Toipic of Territorial Reforms in Europe

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