No Aladdin’s Cave in New South Wales? Local Government Amalgamation, Scale Economies, and Data Envelopment Analysis Specification

Drew, J; Kortt, MA; Dollery, B

No Aladdin’s Cave in New South Wales? Local Government Amalgamation, Scale Economies, and Data Envelopment Analysis Specification

Drew, J

Kortt, MA Dollery, B

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Publication Type:: Journal Article
Citation:: Administration and Society, 2017, 49 (10), pp. 1450 - 1470
Issue Date:: 2017-11-01

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Drew, J https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3579-5758	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Kortt, MA	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Dollery, B	en_US
dc.date.issued	2017-11-01	en_US
dc.identifier.citation	Administration and Society, 2017, 49 (10), pp. 1450 - 1470	en_US
dc.identifier.issn	0095-3997	en_US
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/41793
dc.description.abstract	© 2015, © The Author(s) 2015. Local government structural reform programs are often based on the purported benefits of increased scale. We examine this question in relation to the proposed amalgamation program for New South Wales (NSW) by the NSW Independent Local Government Review Panel using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). We find evidence that a significant proportion of municipalities scheduled for amalgamation already exceed optimal scale and that the great majority of “amalgamated” entities will initially exhibit decreasing returns to scale. Our findings thus stand in stark contrast to the Independent Local Government Review Panel (ILGRP) contention that municipal mergers are the optimal approach to capturing economies of scale in NSW local government.	en_US
dc.relation.ispartof	Administration and Society	en_US
dc.relation.isbasedon	10.1177/0095399715581045	en_US
dc.subject.classification	Political Science & Public Administration	en_US
dc.title	No Aladdin’s Cave in New South Wales? Local Government Amalgamation, Scale Economies, and Data Envelopment Analysis Specification	en_US
dc.type	Journal Article
utslib.citation.volume	10	en_US
utslib.citation.volume	49	en_US
utslib.for	1605 Policy and Administration	en_US
utslib.for	1606 Political Science	en_US
pubs.embargo.period	Not known	en_US
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/DVC (Research)
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/DVC (Research)/lnstitute for Public Policy and Governance
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Strength - IPPG - Institute for Public Policy and Governance
utslib.copyright.status	closed_access
pubs.issue	10	en_US
pubs.publication-status	Published	en_US
pubs.volume	49	en_US

Abstract:

© 2015, © The Author(s) 2015. Local government structural reform programs are often based on the purported benefits of increased scale. We examine this question in relation to the proposed amalgamation program for New South Wales (NSW) by the NSW Independent Local Government Review Panel using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). We find evidence that a significant proportion of municipalities scheduled for amalgamation already exceed optimal scale and that the great majority of “amalgamated” entities will initially exhibit decreasing returns to scale. Our findings thus stand in stark contrast to the Independent Local Government Review Panel (ILGRP) contention that municipal mergers are the optimal approach to capturing economies of scale in NSW local government.

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http://hdl.handle.net/10453/41793