Municipal amalgamation reforms are performed in most developed countries. The basic rationale for these reforms is taking advantage of economies of scale in municipal provision of public services. Contrary to theory and common wisdom, empirical literature finds almost no benefits arising from an amalgamation. This literature, however, relies on scant evidence. The purpose of this paper is to present evidence for the budgetary outcomes of municipal amalgamations. The study is based on an extensive panel data of municipalities in Israel for the years 1999-2007. The evaluation uses the amalgamation reform of 2003 analyzed with the difference in differences methodology in order to assess changes in the budgetary situation of the amalgamated municipalities. The results indicate that the amalgamations resulted in a decrease of about 8% in municipal expenditures. I find no evidence of a decrease in the level of services in the amalgamated municipalities. The results suggest that municipal amalgamations bring economies of scale into practice.

"Municipal Boundary Battles explores the motivations, land use effects, and financial implications of municipal boundary adjustments across Canada, focusing mainly on annexations and amalgamations--the most frequent means to adjust boundaries and reform local governments in this country. The authors uncover hidden motivations, untangle behind-the-scenes political machinations, and document the ensuing boundary battles, with a focus on mid-size cities and small towns rather than major Canadian metropolitan areas. Through empirical evidence, case studies, and examples among several provinces, the collection helps develop generalizations and inform best practices for municipal boundary adjustments and reform. The volume aims to study this phenomenon to explain how the esoteric aspects of boundary adjustments work in more practical applications, offering political scientists, geographers, municipal officials, and planning practitioners fresh perspectives that contradict much of the prevailing understanding of boundary adjustments. Contributors: Sandeep Agrawal, Cody Gretzinger, John Heseltine, John Meligrana, Jordan Rea, Amrita Singh, Jon Taylor, Zack Taylor. Afterword by Andrew Sancton."--

The Arab-Palestinian community, which constitutes 20 percent of Israel’s population, is an ethnic minority living mainly in ethnically homogeneous cities and villages. Arab-Palestinian Society in the Israeli Political System offers a comprehensive, detailed examination of Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel within the Green Line in the twenty-first century. Rami Zeedan analyzes political trends, leadership, and the effects on Arab-Palestinian identity in Israel of recent changes, especially the 2015 legislative elections. The author also sheds light on the crisis and identifies the sources and relations to the local political structure in Arab localities in Israel. The book discusses the implications of the integration of an ethnic minority in an ethnic state and on the definition of Israel as “Jewish and Democratic.”

At the end of the twentieth century, academics and policymakers welcomed a trend toward fiscal and political decentralization as part of a potential solution for slow economic growth and poor performance by insulated, unaccountable governments. For the last two decades, researchers have been trying to answer a series of vexing questions about the political economy of multi-layered governance. Much of the best recent research on decentralization has come from close collaborations between university researchers and international aid institutions. As the volume and quality of this collaborative research have increased in recent decades, the time has come to review the lessons from this literature and apply them to debates about future programming. In this volume, the contributors place this research in the broader history of engagement between aid institutions and academics, particularly in the area of decentralized governance, and outline the challenges and opportunities to link evidence and policy action.

This book is based upon a comparative public administration research project, initiated by the Hertie School of Governance (Germany) and the Bertelsmann Foundation (Germany) and supported by a network of researchers from many EU countries. It analyzes both the regimes and the practices of local fiscal regulation in 21 European countries. The book brings together key findings of this research project. The regulatory discussion is not limited to the prominent issue of fiscal rules but focuses on every component of regulation. Beyond this, the book covers affiliated topics such as the impact of regulation for local governments, evolution of regulation, administrative costs and crisis prevention. The various book chapters throughout provide a broad picture of local public finance regulation in theory and in practice, using different theoretical and national lenses for the analysis. Furthermore, the authors investigate the effects of budgetary constraints and higher-level regulatory efforts on local governments and on democracy and public services in every European country. This book fills a gap with respect to the lack of discussion on local government finance from an international, comparative perspective and, in particular, the regulation of local public finance. With its mix of authors, this book will be useful for practitioners as well as for scholars and for theory-driven research.

This Handbook comprehensively explores research methods in public administration, management and policy. Exploring the richness of both traditional and contemporary methods and strategies for making progress in the field, it provides an advanced toolkit for understanding the science of public administration and management in the 21st century.