A Cautionary Tale
Council Amalgamation in Tasmania and the Deloitte Access Economics Report
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 11959039 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Joseph Drew (0000-0003-3579-5758, University of New England, corresponding author), Michael A Kortt (0000-0002-3556-3001, Southern Cross University), Brian Dollery (0000-0003-2760-865X, University of New England) |
| Year | 2013 |
| Volume | 72 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 55-65 |
| Publication date | 2013-03-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Australian Journal of Public Administration (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0313-6647 • E-ISSN: 1467-8500 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1111/1467-8500.12011 |
| OpenAlex | W1699578732 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 14 |
| References cited | 10 |
Contemporary Australian public policy has come to rely increasingly on technical reports produced by commercial consultants in contrast to the traditional approach, which employed disinterested public servants to generate the specialist information required to inform decision makers. This approach is fraught with problems, not least the fact that ‘hired guns’ have strong incentives to create the ‘answers’ sought by their employers. By way of a ‘cautionary tale’, this paper examines the empirical evidence adduced in favour of radical amalgamation of Tasmanian local authorities in Local Government Structural Reform in Tasmania, produced by Deloitte Access Economics (DAE) (2011), and commissioned by the Property Council of Tasmania. In particular, the paper provides a critical analysis of the econometric modelling undertaken in the DAE (2011) Report. We find that if the DAE model is re‐estimated – employing alternative functional forms – then the empirical evidence in support of Tasmania council merges evaporates
Economics · Empirical evidence · Government (linguistics · Incentive · Local government · Political science · Politics · Public choice · Public economics · Law · Local Government Finance and Decentralization · Nonprofit Sector and Volunteering · Public Administration · Public Policy and Administration Research · Accounting
Municipal amalgamations and their effects
Local Government Capacity and Land Use Planning for Natural Hazards
NSW local government reform
Keeping It In‐House
How High Should They Jump? An Empirical Method for Setting Municipal Financial Ratio Performance Benchmarks
The Australian Experience of Municipal Amalgamation
Is Biggest Best? A Comparative Analysis of the Financial Viability of the Brisbane City Council
Would Bigger Councils Yield Scale Economies in the Greater Perth Metropolitan Region? A Critique of the Metropolitan Local Government Review for Perth Local Government
Can't Get No Satisfaction? The Association Between Community Satisfaction and Population Size for Victoria
Are Governments Really Interested in Fixing the Housing Problem? Policy Capture and Busy Work in Australia
The Fiscal Impact of County-to-Urban District Conversion in China
Municipal Mergers in New Zealand
Did the Big Stick Work? An Empirical Assessment of Scale Economies and the Queensland Forced Amalgamation Program
What’s in a Name? Assessing the Performance of Local Government Classification Systems
| Unique citing works | 14 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1.17 |
| Citation span | 2014 - 2023 (10) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 14 |