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2011
- ISIDORE Id: 10670/1.06f28f...
- hal: hal-02809644
- PRODINRA: 47018
info:eu-repo/semantics/OpenAccess
Mots-clés
population size zoo effect french jurisdictions intermunicipalities local public services spatial econometricsSujets proches
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Quentin Frère et al., « Is there a "zoo effect" in French local governments? », HAL SHS (Sciences de l’Homme et de la Société), ID : 10670/1.06f28f...
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Résumé
From the observation that many public goods –such as zoos– are indivisible, OATES (1988) put forward the idea that the range of public goods should increase with localities’ size; this is the “zoo effect”. But despite this argument appears obvious, it suffers from a limited empirical literature. Therefore, the purpose of the present paper is to test this theoretical argument using data on French inter-municipalities, i.e. local governments that gather several municipalities together in order to manage some local goods. Depending on their spatial position, we split our data set into three groups: urban, suburban and rural inter-municipalities. Using spatial econometrics, estimation results provide evidence for the existence of a zoo effect in French inter-municipalities. In other terms, we find that the variety of services provided in larger inter-municipalities exceeds those in smaller communities. Moreover, the intensity of the zoo effect depends on the urban-rural gradient. It is less intense in the suburban and rural areas than in the urban communities.
