Snobbery, Racism, or Mutual Distaste : What Promotes and Hinders Cooperation in Local Public Good Provision?

A political jurisdiction may decide to cooperate in public schooling provision with its neighbors or remain independent. The determinants of the consolidation decision are compared for the richer and poorer, and the whiter and less white jurisdiction in each potential consolidation pair. Property value and scale economies matter most. However, poorer jurisdictions prefer merging with richer jurisdictions that are less white than themselves. Whiter communities prefer to consolidate with less white communities of similar income. Less white communities are more open to consolidation with whiter communities if their incomes differ in either direction. Traditional club theory predictions are not supported