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The Community Demand for Police Officers
Author(s) -
Mathis Edward J.,
Zech Charles E.
Publication year - 1985
Publication title -
american journal of economics and sociology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.199
H-Index - 38
eISSN - 1536-7150
pISSN - 0002-9246
DOI - 10.1111/j.1536-7150.1985.tb02367.x
Subject(s) - salary , context (archaeology) , demand curve , price elasticity of demand , function (biology) , economics , business , public administration , public economics , political science , microeconomics , law , geography , archaeology , evolutionary biology , biology
A bstract . The nature and elasticity of the demand function for police officers is a major concern of local officials and police union leaders. Analysis of this demand function takes place within the context of the median voter model. The economics of clubs approach is employed to develop a theoretical model which is concerned with determining the utility maximizing number of police officers for a community. The empirical results indicate that the demand for police officers tends to be elastic relative to maximum base salary , which may be indicative of increased citizen sensitivity to salaries of municipal employees .