IS LOCAL GOVERNMENT STRUCTURE IN LARGE URBANIZED AREAS MONOPOLISTIC OR COMPETITIVE?

1 March 1981

journal article
research article
Published by University of Chicago Press in National Tax Journal

Vol. 34 (1) , 95-104
https://doi.org/10.1086/ntj41862353

Abstract

This paper presents tabular evidence on the structure of local government in large Urbanized Areas in the U.S. in 1970. The purpose is to evaluate the assumptions about this structure made by the theoretical literature on local public finance. The conclusion is that the structure seems competitive rather than monopolistic, though there are some exceptions. This does not necessarily mean that the behavior of local government is "competitive" in the usual microeconomic sense of the word.

Keywords

This publication has 2 references indexed in Scilit:

METROPOLITAN FRAGMENTATION AND LOCAL PUBLIC EXPENDITURES
National Tax Journal, 1978
The Voluntary Exchange Theory of Public Economy
The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 1939