The Political Economy of the Local Market for Public Goods: The Role of Entrepreneurs

提供市政服务的标准理论认为， 市场力量的运作，以确保有效地提供这些 公共产品。 其论点是，市场是由公民创造的， 在决定定居的不同城市之间“货比三家” 住在提供最好的 对公民个人来说，高服务/低税收的结合。 然而，这一理论的基础与证据相反， 假设大多数公民都很了解市政 服务和税收，这是相对容易的个人 从一个社区搬到另一个社区， 组合. 该奖项支持一项雄心勃勃的研究计划，以测试和 完善城市政治经济学的标准蒂布特模型， 调查人员将进行一次 一系列调查，以确定个人，企业， 和政府在建立有效的地方市场， 公共产品。特别是，他们将研究以下可能性： 存在一个公众的子样本，它更了解情况， 比标准更移动的，其成员实际上是 移动企业家，通过他们的行动创造市场， 社区的其他居民自动受益。 的 该项目还考虑了政治家积极参与的可能性， 在创造市场方面的作用， 企业和某些类型的公民。 完成这项研究后， 提供市政服务的动力 在美国 因此，它应该建立一个更严格， 判断效率和效果的经验基础 地方政府提供公共产品。

Standard theories of the provision of municipal services hold that market forces operate to ensure the efficient provision of these public goods. The argument is that a market is created as citizens "shop around" among different municipalities deciding to settle down and live in the municipality that provides the best combination of high services/low taxes for the individual citizen. Underlying this theory, however, are contrary to evidence assumptions that most citizens are well informed about municipal services and taxes and that it is relatively easy for individuals to move from one community to another in search of the optimal combination. This award supports an ambitious program of research to test and refine the standard Tiebout model of urban political economy and the assumptions underlying it. The investigators will conduct a series of surveys to determine the role of individuals, businesses, and governments in the creation of efficient local markets for public goods. In particular, they will examine the possibility that a subsample of the public exists which is much better informed and more mobile than the norm and whose members serve, in effect, as mobility entrepreneurs, creating markets by their actions which benefit automatically other residents of the community. The project also considers the possibility that politicians play active roles in creating markets by competing both for certain kinds of business and certain kinds of citizens as well. When completed this research should provide a better understanding of the dynamics that underlie the provision of municipal services in the United States. It should thereby establish a more rigorous, empirical basis for judging the efficiency and effectiveness of the provision of public goods by local governments.