Joint provision of public goods: the consolidation of school districts

A new methodological approach investigates the factors that cause and inhibit political jurisdictions from jointly providing public services. Previous statistical approaches study whether consolidation occurs but are incapable of exploring with whom it occurs. The Poirier bivariate probit analysis suggests population and property value factors matter more than socio-demographic factors in determining whether two neighboring entities will form a consolidated school district. Small and large districts merge with each other, while medium-sized communities tend not to merge. Contrary to prior studies, neither racial composition, income levels, nor hypothetical school quality has a statistically significant effect on the probability of merging. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.