This article investigates the provision of police and education services using a new
method of indexing quantities of local public services that isolates movements in
shadow prices and quantities in expenditure data. Demand equations for two public
characteristics (the crime safety rate and high school reading test pass rates) and
two categories of expenditures (education and police services) are simultaneously
estimated for New Jersey municipalities. The relationship between public services
and public characteristics is estimated, and both the "own" and the "cross "-effects
of public services are found to be empirically significant. Increases in expenditures
between 1982 and 1983 are found to largely reflect increases in quantities of
education services and in prices of police services.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Baum, D. N.1986. A simultaneous equations model of the demand for and production of local public services: The case of education. Public Finance Quarterly14:157-78.
2.
Behrmann, J. R., and S. G. Craig.1987. The distribution of public services: An exploration of local governmental preferences. American Economic Review77:37-49.
3.
Borcherding, T. E., and R. T. Deacon.1972. The demand for services of non-federal governments. American Economic Review62:891-901.
4.
Bradford, D., R. Malt, and W. Oates.1969. The rising cost of local public services: Some evidence and reflections. National Tax Journal22:185-202.
5.
Craig, S. G.1987a. The deterrent impact of police: An examination of a locally provided public service. Journal of Urban Economics21:298-311.
6.
Craig, S. G.1987b. The impact of congestion on local public good production. Journal of Public Economics32:331-35.
7.
Hamilton, B. W.1983. The flypaper effect and other anomalies. Journal of Public Economics22:347-61.
8.
Hirsch, W. Z.1959. Expenditure implications of metropolitan growth and consolidation. Review of Economics and Statistics41:232-41.
9.
Hirsch, W. Z.1960. Determinants of public education expenditures. National Tax Journal13:29-40.
10.
Hirsch, W. Z.1968. The supply of urban public services. In Issues in urban economics, edited by H. Perloff and L. Wingo, 477-526. Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press.
11.
Holtz-Eakin, D.1986. Unobserved tastes and the determination of municipal services. National Tax Journal34:527-32.
12.
Holtz-Eakin, D., and T. J. McGuire.1988. State grants-in-aid and municipal government budgets: A case study of New Jersey. In Research in urban economics, edited by M. Bell, vol. 7, 229-65. Greenwich, CT: JAI.
13.
Hulten, C. R.1984. Productivity change in state and local governments. Review of Economics and Statistics56:256-66.
14.
Inman, R. P.1979. The fiscal performance of local governments: An interpretative review. In Current tssues in urban economics, edited by P. Mieszkowski and M. Straszheim, 270-321. Baltimore, MDThe Johns Hopkins University Press.
15.
Ladd, H. F.1975. Local education expenditures, fiscal capacity, and the composition of the property tax base . National Tax Journal28:145-58.
16.
McPheters, L. R., and W. B. Stronge.1974. Law enforcement expenditures and urban crime. National Tax Journal28:633-44.
17.
Newman, O.1972. Defensible space . New York: Macmillan.
18.
Oates, W. E.1979. Lump-sum intergovernmental grants have price effects. In Fiscal federalism and grants-in-aid , edited by P. Mieszkowski and W. H. Oakland, 23-39. Washington, D.C.: Urban Institute.
19.
Perkins, G. M.1977. The demand for local public goods: Elasticities of demand for own price, cross prices, and income. National Tax Journal30:411-22.
20.
Ross, J. P., and J. Burkhead.1974. Productivity in the local government sector. Lexington, MA: Lexington Books.
21.
Schmandt, H. J., and G. R. Stephens.1960. Measuring municipal output . National Tax Journal13:369-75.
22.
Schwab, R. M., and E. M. Zampelli.1987. Disentangling the demand function from the production function for local public services: The case of public safety. Journal of Public Economics44:245-60.
23.
Schwartz, A. E.1989. Individual production, community characteristics, and the provision of public services . Ph.D. diss., Columbia University.
24.
Schwartz, A. E.1993. Individual production, community characteristics, and the provision of public services. Journal of Public Economics50:277-89.
25.
State of New Jersey, Division of State Police.1982. Crime in New Jersey. West Trenton: State of New Jersey, Division of State Police.
