American Economic Review Vol. 77 No. 1 1987
The Distribution of Public Services: An Exploration of Local Governmental Preferences
Abstract
[A local governmental welfare function is specified to explore two of its central characteristics: the equity-productivity tradeoff and differential weights across neighborhoods. The model is estimated using service outputs (safety) in the welfare function, as opposed to publicly provided inputs (police), over neighborhoods. The equity-productivity tradeoff is found to be considerable, and not all neighborhoods are weighted equally. The estimation results raise several questions about accepted analysis of governmental behavior.]
- Volume
- 77
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 37-49
- Sources
- bibtex:phds-export.bib