Do Municipal Mergers Improve Technical Efficiency? An Empirical Analysis of the 2008 Queensland Municipal Merger Program
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 11959560 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Dana Mcquestin (0000-0002-0137-0260, University of Technology Sydney, corresponding author), Joseph Drew (0000-0003-3579-5758, University of Technology Sydney), Brian Dollery (0000-0003-2760-865X, University of New England) |
| Year | 2017 |
| Volume | 77 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 442-455 |
| Publication date | 2017-10-18 |
| 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 | 10.1111/1467-8500.12286 |
| OpenAlex | W2756628343 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 11 |
| References cited | 24 |
Municipal mergers remain an important instrument of local government policy in numerous countries, including Australia, despite some concerns surrounding its efficacy. We consider the claim that amalgamations enhance the technical efficiency of the merged entities by examining the 2008 Queensland compulsory consolidation program that reduced the number of local authorities from 157 to 73 councils. To test the claim, we conduct locally inter‐temporal data envelopment analysis over the period 2003–2013 inclusive. Our evidence suggests that (1) in the financial year preceding the mergers, there was no statistically significant difference in the typical efficiency scores of amalgamated and non‐amalgamated councils and (2) 2 years following the mergers, the typical technical efficiency score of the amalgamated councils was well below the non‐amalgamated cohort. We argue this may be attributed to increased spending on staffing expenses, although comparatively larger operational expenditure also served to diminish efficiency
Business · Consolidation (business · Data envelopment analysis · Economics · Local government · Management · Political science · Public economics · Staffing · Fiscal Policy and Economic Growth · Local Government Finance and Decentralization · Public Administration · Public-Private Partnership Projects · Accounting · Finance
Local government amalgamations
Local Government Capacity and Land Use Planning for Natural Hazards
Rules of Evidence, Efficiency Claims, and Local Government Amalgamation
‘Now they’re going to find us on a map’
The Influence of Excellence on Municipal Performance
Bureaucratic redundancy and administrative burden
The impact of municipal territorial reforms on the economic performance of local governments. A systematic review of quasi-experimental studies
Fade into the shadows
When Do Municipal Consolidations Reduce Government Expenditures? Evidence on the Role of Local Involvement
Local territorial reform and regional spending efficiency
The temporal dependence of public policy evaluation
Data Envelopment Analysis
Revisiting the determinants of local government performance
An Essay on Fiscal Federalism
Keeping It In‐House
Would Bigger Councils Yield Scale Economies in the Greater Perth Metropolitan Region? A Critique of the Metropolitan Local Government Review for Perth Local Government
No Aladdin’s Cave in New South Wales? Local Government Amalgamation, Scale Economies, and Data Envelopment Analysis Specification
Measuring Efficiency in Local Government
Population Size and Economies of Scale in Local Government
Re-evaluating local government amalgamations
Did the Big Stick Work? An Empirical Assessment of Scale Economies and the Queensland Forced Amalgamation Program
| Citations per year | 1.57 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2019 - 2026 (8) |
| Highly cited | No |