A sizeable effect? Municipal council size and the cost of local government in Canada
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 9783502 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Jean‐Philippe Meloche (corresponding author), Patrick Kilfoil |
| Year | 2017 |
| Volume | 60 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 241-267 |
| Publication date | 2017-06-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Canadian Public Administration (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0008-4840 • E-ISSN: 1754-7121 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1111/capa.12211 |
| OpenAlex | W2612187090 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
| References cited | 28 |
This article examines the relationship between council size and municipal expenditures in Quebec's largest municipalities. Two claims commonly found in the literature are tested: the professionalization and the law of 1/n hypotheses. Using cross‐sectional data, the professionalization hypothesis is confirmed: each elected official costs more in a smaller council. As for the law of 1/n, the effect of council size on total government expenditures is not significant. These results refute the cost saving argument for smaller councils and suggest that other aspects, such as quality of democratic life and efficiency in decision‐making, may be more relevant to the debate
Argument (complex analysis · Democracy · Economics · Government (linguistics · Local government · Political science · Politics · Professionalization · Public economics · Quality (philosophy · Accounting · Fiscal Policies and Political Economy · Fiscal Policy and Economic Growth · Law · Local Government Finance and Decentralization · Public Administration
Size and Local Democracy
Do Better Paid Politicians Perform Better? Disentangling Incentives From Selection
Fiscal Policy, Legislature Size, and Political Parties
Local Government in Canada
Black and Hispanic Council Representation
The impact of government structure on local public expenditures
Local Government Structure and Public Expenditures
Districting and Government Overspending
The Political Economy of Benefits and Costs
Building metropolitan governance capacity
Personality traits of municipal politicians and staff
Are services delivered more efficiently after municipal amalgamations
How much is enough? A study of municipal councillor remuneration
Measuring State Legislative Professionalism
The Price of Democracy? Political Representation Structure and Per Capita Expenditure in Victorian Local Government
Distributive Politics and the Law of 1/n
The Shifting Boundary between Elected Officials and City Managers in Large Council-Manager Cities
The Impact of Assembly Size on Representativeness
Local Legislative Professionalism
Same Governance, Different Day
| Unique citing works | 2 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,5 |
| Citation span | 2022 - 2023 (2) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 2 |