SÉMINAIRE DE RECHERCHE EN ÉCONOMIE - GATE LYON SAINT-ÉTIENNE : Clemence TRICAUD

Clemence Tricaud, UCLA Anderson School of Management, présentera un séminaire intitulé : "Better Alone ? Evidence on the Costs of Intermunicipal Cooperation".
Elle interviendra par visioconférence.

Résumé / abstract  : What is the optimal jurisdiction size ? While central governments tend to encourage intermunicipal cooperation in order to achieve economies of scale, municipalities are often reluctant to integrate. Exploiting a 2010 reform in France that forced non-integrated municipalities to enter an intermunicipal community, this paper provides causal evidence that resistance is driven by local costs of integration. Using a difference-in-differences strategy, I first find that municipalities forced to integrate experienced a 12.4 percent increase in the number of building permits delivered, raising congestion in urban municipalities. Second, I find that rural municipalities experienced a decrease in the number of public service facilities located within their territory, increasing the distance to public services for their residents. Additional results suggest that these costs are sufficiently high to offset the benefits of integration in terms of better access to public transport and higher fiscal revenues. These findings shed new light on the factors explaining municipalities’ resistance while stressing the consequences of changing the scale of decision making.

Clemence Tricaud