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What Lies Beneath These Creatures of the State: Understanding the Death of Specialised Governments in the U.S

Special districts
Dissolution
Intergovernmental affairs

Christopher B. Goodman and Suzanne M. Leland. “What Lies Beneath These Creatures of the State: Understanding the Death of Specialised Governments in the U.S”

Authors
Affiliations

Christopher B. Goodman

Northern Illinois University

Suzanne M. Leland

University of North Carolina at Charlotte

Published

April 2023

Abstract

After analysing 35 years of census data on U.S. local government change, this study finds that the dissolution of special districts (specialised governments) or “exits” in U.S. counties are largely unrelated to demand factors. Using fixed effects regression specified at the all-county and urban county levels, we find that restrictions on the fiscal autonomy of cities are associated with decreases in the special district exit rate. There is also evidence that state grants of “broad” or “limited” functional home rule to cities increase special district dissolutions. These results appear to be driven by highly asset-specific functions. The findings are consistent with the circumvention argument made in the local autonomy literature and may indicate some service consolidation, albeit from a different perspective.

BibTeX Citation

@unpublished{goodman-leland-2023,
  author = {Goodman, Christopher B. and Leland, Suzanne M.},
  note = {Working Paper},
  title = {What Lies Beneath These Creatures of the State: Understanding the Death of Specialised Governments in the U.S},
  year = {2023}}