Australian local government amalgamation: A conceptual analysis population size and scale economies in municipal service provision

Title
Australian local government amalgamation: A conceptual analysis population size and scale economies in municipal service provision
Publication Date
2008
Author(s)
Dollery, Brian E
Byrnes, Joel David
Crase, L
Type of document
Journal Article
Language
en
Entity Type
Publication
Publisher
Australia and New Zealand Regional Science Association International Inc (ANZRSAI)
Place of publication
Australia
UNE publication id
une:1714
Abstract
A common argument advanced by proponents of Australian local council amalgamation proposals is that 'bigger is cheaper' due inter alia to the existence of substantial economies of scale in local council service provision. This argument typically asserts that local councils with larger populations can provide municipal services at lower costs per unit of output than local authorities with smaller population bases, thereby conflating population size with the theoretically distinct concept of scale economies. This short paper examines this argument in the light of standard economic theory. We conclude that it is fallacious to use population size as a proxy for scale economies in Australian local government.
Link
Citation
Australasian Journal of Regional Studies, 14(2), p. 167-175
ISSN
1324-0935
Start page
167
End page
175

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