The Empirical Analysis of Council Size, Council Performance and Council Amalgamation in Australian Local Government

Abstract

Financial viability remains a matter of acute concern for Australian local government. Efforts to improve local government sustainability in Australian local government have focussed principally on structural change - primarily through forced amalgamation – which is directed at generating savings by exploiting economies of scale. However, empirical evidence on the existence of substantial scale economies across the range of municipal functions is mixed and inconclusive. In general, in debates over structural reform in Australian local government, claims by proponents of amalgamation that significant economies of scale will inevitably emerge as a consequence of larger merged councils are typically not accompanied by econometric modelling or indeed any other empirical evidence. This thesis argues that much of the existing empirical literature relating to the optimal size of local government is plagued by methodological flaws. Accordingly, it cannot be used to justify compulsory consolidation programs based on increasing the population size of local government entities. This conclusion is reached after examining the implications of these flaws on the question of optimal size in Australian local government. Recent innovations in the empirical analysis of municipal size and performance are considered. Using these developments, it is argued that future structural reform programs must be assessed by employing a range of techniques that take account of regulatory priorities, citizen preferences and projected outcomes.