Maarten A Allers
Biographic Data
| ID | 4387133 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Maarten A Allers |
| GIVEN NAMES | Maarten A |
| FAMILY NAME | Allers |
| SIGNATURE | ALLERS M A |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Groningen |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 8 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 67 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 8 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2005 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2018 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
Intermunicipal cooperation, public spending and service levels
Local governments can increase size in particular policy fields through cooperation with other local governments. This is often thought to improve efficiency, but there is little empirical evidence supporting this hypothesis. We study the case of the Netherlands, which has been a veritable laboratory of intermunicipal cooperation (IMC), using panel data for 2005–2013. We find no evidence that IMC reduces total spending of the average municipality…
The Effects of Local Government Amalgamation on Public Spending, Taxation, and Service Levels
We study how municipal amalgamation affects local government spending, taxation, and service provision in the Netherlands. Employing different models, different control groups, and a number of robustness tests, we find no significant effect on aggregate spending or taxation, although spending on administration is reduced. We explore whether this finding might hide amalgamation effects working in opposite directions for different types of municipa…
Intermunicipal cooperation, municipal amalgamation and the price of credit
In many countries, local government size is increasingly thought to be insufficient to operate efficiently. Two possible solutions to this problem are amalgamation and intermunicipal cooperation. This paper applies a novel methodology to shed light on the efficiency implications of this choice. Using a unique and rich micro-level dataset, we find that intermunicipal organisations (IOs) in the Netherlands consistently pay higher interest rates tha…
The Dutch Local Government Bailout Puzzle
The fiscal federalism and public choice literatures stress that government bailouts should be ruled out as they increase the probability that jurisdictions will incur unsustainable debt levels or take excessive risk (moral hazard problem). The recent problems in the euro area seem to confirm this view. However, in the Netherlands, the law explicitly stipulates that local governments which are unable to balance their books will receive a bailout g…
Do Formulas Reduce Political Influence on Intergovernmental Grants? Evidence from Tanzania
Sub-national governments usually depend on the central government for a large share of their revenues. Therefore, a fair allocation of intergovernmental grants is essential for financing vital local services like education and healthcare. In Tanzania, and many other countries, regions that are better represented in the national parliament receive significantly more funds than others. Recently, Tanzania replaced the previously existing discretiona…
Fiscal Capacity Equalisation in Tanzania
Fiscal equalisation aims at enabling decentralised governments to supply similar services at similar tax rates. In order to equalise fiscal disparities, differences in both fiscal capacities and in fiscal needs have to be measured. This paper focuses on the measurement of fiscal capacity in a developing country. The current intergovernmental transfer system in Tanzania does not take differences in fiscal capacity into account. As a result, local …
More evidence of the effects of voting technology on election outcomes
Using two different data sources—municipal level data and individual data—we consider several hitherto unexplored aspects of the relationship between voting technology and election outcomes. We distinguish between introductory and permanent effects of electronic voting, and between national and municipal elections. We test for a possible asymmetry between the effect of moving from paper ballots to electronic voting, and vice versa, and we control…
Tax Mimicking and Yardstick Competition Among Local Governments in the Netherlands
Intermunicipal cooperation, public spending and service levels
Local governments can increase size in particular policy fields through cooperation with other local governments. This is often thought to improve efficiency, but there is little empirical evidence supporting this hypothesis. We study the case of the Netherlands, which has been a veritable laboratory of intermunicipal cooperation (IMC), using panel data for 2005–2013. We find no evidence that IMC reduces total spending of the average municipality…
Intermunicipal cooperation, municipal amalgamation and the price of credit
In many countries, local government size is increasingly thought to be insufficient to operate efficiently. Two possible solutions to this problem are amalgamation and intermunicipal cooperation. This paper applies a novel methodology to shed light on the efficiency implications of this choice. Using a unique and rich micro-level dataset, we find that intermunicipal organisations (IOs) in the Netherlands consistently pay higher interest rates tha…
More evidence of the effects of voting technology on election outcomes
Using two different data sources—municipal level data and individual data—we consider several hitherto unexplored aspects of the relationship between voting technology and election outcomes. We distinguish between introductory and permanent effects of electronic voting, and between national and municipal elections. We test for a possible asymmetry between the effect of moving from paper ballots to electronic voting, and vice versa, and we control…
The Dutch Local Government Bailout Puzzle
The fiscal federalism and public choice literatures stress that government bailouts should be ruled out as they increase the probability that jurisdictions will incur unsustainable debt levels or take excessive risk (moral hazard problem). The recent problems in the euro area seem to confirm this view. However, in the Netherlands, the law explicitly stipulates that local governments which are unable to balance their books will receive a bailout g…
Fiscal Capacity Equalisation in Tanzania
Fiscal equalisation aims at enabling decentralised governments to supply similar services at similar tax rates. In order to equalise fiscal disparities, differences in both fiscal capacities and in fiscal needs have to be measured. This paper focuses on the measurement of fiscal capacity in a developing country. The current intergovernmental transfer system in Tanzania does not take differences in fiscal capacity into account. As a result, local …
Tax Mimicking and Yardstick Competition Among Local Governments in the Netherlands
More evidence of the effects of voting technology on election outcomes
Using two different data sources—municipal level data and individual data—we consider several hitherto unexplored aspects of the relationship between voting technology and election outcomes. We distinguish between introductory and permanent effects of electronic voting, and between national and municipal elections. We test for a possible asymmetry between the effect of moving from paper ballots to electronic voting, and vice versa, and we control…
Fiscal Capacity Equalisation in Tanzania
Fiscal equalisation aims at enabling decentralised governments to supply similar services at similar tax rates. In order to equalise fiscal disparities, differences in both fiscal capacities and in fiscal needs have to be measured. This paper focuses on the measurement of fiscal capacity in a developing country. The current intergovernmental transfer system in Tanzania does not take differences in fiscal capacity into account. As a result, local …
Do Formulas Reduce Political Influence on Intergovernmental Grants? Evidence from Tanzania
Sub-national governments usually depend on the central government for a large share of their revenues. Therefore, a fair allocation of intergovernmental grants is essential for financing vital local services like education and healthcare. In Tanzania, and many other countries, regions that are better represented in the national parliament receive significantly more funds than others. Recently, Tanzania replaced the previously existing discretiona…
The Dutch Local Government Bailout Puzzle
The fiscal federalism and public choice literatures stress that government bailouts should be ruled out as they increase the probability that jurisdictions will incur unsustainable debt levels or take excessive risk (moral hazard problem). The recent problems in the euro area seem to confirm this view. However, in the Netherlands, the law explicitly stipulates that local governments which are unable to balance their books will receive a bailout g…
The Effects of Local Government Amalgamation on Public Spending, Taxation, and Service Levels
We study how municipal amalgamation affects local government spending, taxation, and service provision in the Netherlands. Employing different models, different control groups, and a number of robustness tests, we find no significant effect on aggregate spending or taxation, although spending on administration is reduced. We explore whether this finding might hide amalgamation effects working in opposite directions for different types of municipa…
Intermunicipal cooperation, municipal amalgamation and the price of credit
In many countries, local government size is increasingly thought to be insufficient to operate efficiently. Two possible solutions to this problem are amalgamation and intermunicipal cooperation. This paper applies a novel methodology to shed light on the efficiency implications of this choice. Using a unique and rich micro-level dataset, we find that intermunicipal organisations (IOs) in the Netherlands consistently pay higher interest rates tha…
Intermunicipal cooperation, public spending and service levels
Local governments can increase size in particular policy fields through cooperation with other local governments. This is often thought to improve efficiency, but there is little empirical evidence supporting this hypothesis. We study the case of the Netherlands, which has been a veritable laboratory of intermunicipal cooperation (IMC), using panel data for 2005–2013. We find no evidence that IMC reduces total spending of the average municipality…
Economics (8 works) · Local Government Finance and Decentralization (7 works) · Fiscal Policy and Economic Growth (6 works) · Political science (6 works) · Public economics (6 works) · Business (5 works) · Public Administration (5 works) · Corporate Taxation and Avoidance (4 works) · Politics (4 works) · Finance (3 works)