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The Political Economy of City Formation in California: Limits to Tiebout Sorting
Author(s) -
Musso Juliet Ann
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
social science quarterly
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.482
H-Index - 90
eISSN - 1540-6237
pISSN - 0038-4941
DOI - 10.1111/0038-4941.00013
Subject(s) - tiebout model , sorting , voting , economics , service (business) , heuristics , public economics , microeconomics , politics , economy , political science , public good , computer science , law , programming language , operating system
Objective . This paper analyzes the extent to which voter behavior in city formation elections supports Tiebout's (1956) hypothesis that residential sorting facilitates efficiency of local service provision. It develops a two‐stage model of city formation to distinguish agenda setting from voter outcomes on city formation proposals. Methods . Logit analysis is used to analyze voting in 71 city formation elections, incorporating Heckman's two‐stage procedure to correct for self‐selection of local referenda. Results . Community fiscal and demographic factors influence agenda setting more than voting behavior. Wealthier communities in high‐growth counties are more likely to propose formation of a city. In contrast, community characteristics have little influence on electoral outcomes, suggesting that boundedly rational voters rely on information heuristics. Conclusions . Although reduction of diversity did not appear to motivate city formation, sorting around residential income, land use preferences, and other demographic variables may facilitate relative efficiency of service provision.