Electoral vulnerability and size of local governments: Evidence from voting on municipal mergers

Ari Hyytinen, Tuukka Saarimaa and Janne Tukiainen

Journal of Public Economics, 2014, vol. 120, issue C, 193-204

Abstract: We analyze how anticipated changes in the electoral vulnerability of municipal councilors affect their voting behavior over municipal mergers. The electoral vulnerability changes due to a merger because it changes the composition of political competitors and the number of available seats in the next election. We use this variation for identification and find that the smaller the increase in the electoral vulnerability of a councilor, the more likely he is to vote for the merger. The documented effect is not driven by the behavioral response of the voters, or by party-line considerations. The councilors' desire to avoid personal electoral competition may lead to sub-optimally small municipalities from the local citizens' point of view.

Keywords: Electoral vulnerability; Local politics; Municipal mergers (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D72 H11 H77 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (17)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:pubeco:v:120:y:2014:i:c:p:193-204

DOI: 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2014.09.010

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