When investigating the effects of federal grants on the behavior of lower-level governments, it is hard to defend the handling of grants as an exogenous factor affecting local governments; federal governments often set grants based on characteristics and performance of local governments. In this...

Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) has become an established tool in comparative analyses of efficiency strategies in both the public and the private sector. The aim of this paper is to present and apply a newly developed, adjusted DEA model – emerging from a blend of a Distance Friction...

Wir zeigen, dass in schrumpfenden Städten die Gesamtausgaben langsamer zurückgehen als die Einwohnerzahl. Dadurch steigen die kommunalen Ausgaben je Einwohner an. In wachsenden Städten beobachten wir diesen Effekt hingegen nicht; die Gesamtausgaben wachsen im gleichen Maß wie die...

Redistributive grants schemes, such as fiscal equalization, are a common characteristic of local public finance in several countries. However, large and small jurisdictions are treated differently by the respective fiscal equalization schemes that often tend to favour larger jurisdictions. This...

In den letzten Jahren konnte ein massiver Einbruch bei den kommunalen Investitionen in Ostdeutschland beobachtet werden. Im vorliegenden Beitrag wird gezeigt, dass dieser Einbruch unabhängig von der Wirtschaftskraft der Kommunen stattfand und in engem Zusammenhang mit dem Rückgang der...

Mecklenburg-Vorpommern ist eines der Bundesländer, die in den nächsten Jahren sehr stark vom demographischen Wandel betroffen sein werden, gleichzeitig jedoch bereits heute die geringste Einwohnerdichte aufweist. Allein diese Tatsachen legen einen hohen Anpassungsbedarf der öffentlichen...

The consequences of ageing populations for federal and state fiscal policies are, due to the research efforts of the last two decades, well known. However, it is rather less well known how the municipal level is affected. Therefore, by using a modification of the sustainability definition...

Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) has become an established tool in comparative analyses of efficiency strategies in both the public and the private sector. The aim of this paper is to present and apply a newly developed, adjusted DEA model – emerging from a blend of a Distance Friction...

States merge small and medium sized municipalities to achieve economies of scale. Little is known to which extent mergers of large local governments reduce expenditures. I use the synthetic control method to identify the effect of mergers of county-sized administrations in Germany (districts) on...

Regions are increasingly competing indirectly because of the increasing mobility of populations. According to OECD (2005) figures, interregional commuting rates are high. Intraregional commuting rates are even higher and steadily increasing. Commuting has a significant influence on the income of...