Per-capita Public Expenditures and Population Size: A Non-parametric Analysis Using French Data

Date

2008

Authors

Breunig, Robert
Rocaboy, Yvon

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Kluwer Academic Publishers

Abstract

Based on the median voter model, we specify a flexible general framework of the effect of municipality size on per-capita public expenditures. Previous literature has recognized that municipality size should have a non-linear effect on the quality of public goods provision and to this end different papers have applied a range of alternative parametric specifications. Using a very large sample of French "communes" we are able to estimate the effect of municipality size semi-parametrically. In contrast with the parametric specifications, we find evidence of the U-shaped relationship between per-capita public expenditures and population which is predicted by theory.

Description

Keywords

Keywords: Congestion; Local Public Economics; Semi-parametric econometrics

Citation

Source

Public Choice

Type

Journal article

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Restricted until

2037-12-31