Political representation and effects of municipal mergers

Harjunen, Oskari; Saarimaa, Tuukka; Tukiainen, Janne

doi:10.1017/psrm.2019.17

Cited by 42 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 45 publications

(68 reference statements)

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“…Studies mainly focus on the municipal level. Almost all quasi-experimental studies which offer a causal interpretation do not show that mergers reduce total expenditures (Lüchinger and Stutzer 2002;Moisio and Uusitalo 2013;Allers und Geertsma 2016;Blesse and Baskaran 2016;Blom-Hansen et al 2016;Fritz 2016;Studerus 2016;Harjunen, Saarimaa, and Tukiainen 2017;Sandsør, Falch, and Strøm 2017); Reingewertz (2012) being the sole exception. 4 Voter turnout in local elections, by contrast, seems to decrease (Fritz and Feld 2015;Koch and Rochat 2017;Lapointe, Saarimaa, and Tukiainen 2018).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Merging county administrations – cross-national evidence of fiscal and political effects

Blesse

Roesel

2018

Local Government Studies

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While many central governments amalgamate municipalities, mergers of larger county administrations are rare and hardly explored. In this article, we assess both fiscal and political effects of county mergers in two different institutional settings: counties act autonomously as upper-level local governments (Germany), or counties being decentralised branches of the state government (Austria). We apply difference-indifferences estimations to county merger reforms in each country. In both cases, some counties were amalgamated while others remain untouched. Austrian counties (Bezirke) and German counties (Landkreise) widely differ in terms of autonomy and institutions, but our results are strikingly similar. In both cases, we neither find evidence for cost savings nor for staff reductions. Instead, voter turnout consistently decreases in merged counties, and right-wing populists seem to gain additional support. We conclude that political costs clearly outweigh fiscal null benefits of county merger reformsindependent of the underlying institutional setting.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Merging county administrations – cross-national evidence of fiscal and political effects

Blesse

Roesel

2018

Local Government Studies

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“…Moreover, it may be easier to develop a sense of community in small jurisdictions, which may encourage political participation. These concerns, in turn, may feed back to the economic effects of mergers (Harjunen et al 2017). On the other hand, it is possible that only large jurisdictions can sustain meaningful contested politics.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of municipal mergers on voter turnout

Lapointe

Saarimaa

Tukiainen

2018

Local Government Studies

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We study the effects of municipal mergers on voter turnout in a difference-indifferences framework, using data from a wave of municipal mergers in Finland in 2009. Analysing two pre-merger elections and three post-merger elections, spanning a total of 17 years, we find that municipal mergers decrease voter turnout by 4 percentage points in the long run in the relatively small municipalities compared to similar small municipalities that did not merge. As the average turnout rate prior to merging in this group was around 69%, this is a substantial effect. We also find that virtually nothing happens to turnout in the municipalities that were relatively large within their merger. Furthermore, mergers are associated with a decrease in voters' political efficacy and turnout decreases more in those municipalities that experience larger decreases in efficacy.

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“… Also Allers & Geertsema (2016) andReingewertz (2012) find significant negative effects of municipal mergers on administrative spending. However, most studies report insignificant effects(Hansen et al, 2014;Harjunen et al, 2019;Mughan, 2019;Rösel, 2017).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Citizens’ Trade-offs in State Merger Decisions: Evidence from a Randomized Survey Experiment

Blesse

Heinemann

2019

SSRN Journal

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Voters dealing with jurisdictional merger decisions face a trade-off between economies of scale and preference costs. Larger jurisdictions may offer cost advantages, yet the downside is that policies in larger units may be less aligned to voter preferences. Our study is the first to provide evidence on this trade-off on the individual level in an experimental setup. For this purpose, we designed a randomized survey experiment and inquired about preferences on state mergers on a representative sample of the German population. In line with the decentralization theorem, the support for mergers increases with cost savings and falls with preference costs measured as political alignment, respectively. The effects of the cost treatments on merger support are lower for respondents from states that are actually discussed as merger candidates. Effects are also weaker for citizens who have a positive view of their own political participation under the status quo.

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Political representation and effects of municipal mergers

Cited by 42 publications

References 45 publications

Merging county administrations – cross-national evidence of fiscal and political effects

Merging county administrations – cross-national evidence of fiscal and political effects

Effects of municipal mergers on voter turnout

Citizens’ Trade-offs in State Merger Decisions: Evidence from a Randomized Survey Experiment

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