Municipal annexations of unincorporated areas is frequently the option followed by local governments to expand their boundaries. State rules influence annexations by determining the range of powers available to local governments and by shaping the incentives of local actors to pursue this option. To date, empirical analysis has not provided strong evidence that state rules significantly affect local annexation pattens. The impact of state rules on local boundary expansions is estimated through a Poisson regression of the number of annexations occurring within the 50 states from 1990 through 1999. The results provide strong confirmation that state rules designed to constrain annexation do significantly influence local boundary patterns, although in unexpected ways. Procedural constraints expected to reduce annexation activity are instead shown to stimulate greater numbers of annexations.
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