Municipal amalgamation reforms have been advocated as ways to improve efficiency,
reduce costs, and enhance capacity in local government service provision. Research on the …

Recent years have brought increasing number of publications empirically assessing
outcomes of territorial reforms. This paper provides a systematic review of 31 studies from 14 …

This study examines the relationship between energy security, energy equity, and
environmental sustainability from the perspective of economic growth and CO 2 emissions …

This study investigates the effect of political hierarchy on regional economic development
using evidence from Chongqing's promotion to the level of a province in China. In 1997, the …

Local governments can increase size in particular policy fields through cooperation with
other local governments. This is often thought to improve efficiency, but there is little …

Territorial reform is the most radical and contested reorganisation of local government. A
sound evaluation of the outcome of such reforms is hence an important step to ensure the …

Collaboration is a commonly prescribed method of public service improvement. If
collaboration fails, blame is typically ascribed to transaction costs, organizational inertia, or …

It is an old adage that local government is a training ground for democracy. Its human scale
means that political amateurs can contribute effectively and meaningfully to the politics of a …

This paper offers a systematic literature review of the studies investigating the impacts of
municipal amalgamations. These are presented and discussed by distinguishing five …

Over the last decade, municipal territorial amalgamation has occurred in 15 European
countries. The same period has seen spectacular progress in research on the relationship …