The central purpose of this book is to analyse the optimal allocation of local public goods or services (for example garbage collection, police, fire brigades and medical services) in large urban agglomerations and the allocation consequences of increasing competition in the provision of them....

This major reference work--the first of its kind--provides a comprehensive and authoritative introduction to the large and growing literature on contingent valuation. It includes entries on over 7,500 contingent valuation papers and studies from over 130 countries covering both the published and...

Do political decentralisation and inter state competition favour innovation and growth? There has long been a lively debate surrounding this question, going back to David Hume and Immanuel Kant. This book is a new attempt to test its veracity. The existing literature tends to assume that the...