Municipal Amalgamation and Public Service Provision: Efficiency and Equity

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25380165
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Politics
• Research Institution: The University of Kitakyushu
• Principal Investigator: MORI Hiroaki 北九州市立大学, 法学部, 准教授 (00382408)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): YOKOYAMA Makiko 北九州市立大学, 法学部, 准教授 (00458100) ; TSURUTA Yoshitaka 青山学院大学, 国際政治経済学部, 准教授 (00547086) ; HAMAMOTO Shinsuke 北九州市立大学, 法学部, 准教授 (20625850) ; HAZAMA Naoki 北九州市立大学, 法学部, 准教授 (90382407)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: 市町村合併 / 基礎自治体 / 効率性 / 公平性 / 公共サービス

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This research demonstrates how Heisei municipal amalgamations affected interactions between the departments of the municipal government and their external environment. It also considers how those interactions influenced the efficiency and the equity in public service provision. Here the authors focus on three channels of interactions: contracting-out, citizen participation and municipal assemblies. Using questionnaire survey and case study data, we found that the equity was the major issue in the amalgamated municipalities: "pre-amalgamation boundaries between municipalities" had a significant impact on the administration in the amalgamated municipalities.

Free Research Field

行政学