The inability of a range of public policies aimed at improving the financial sustainability and performance of local government has given rise to renewed interest in the determinants of local government expenditure. This paper seeks to add to the empirical...
A feature of contemporary public policymaking across the world is its widespread dependence on commercial consultants for specialised advice. While a substantial literature exists on the problems associated with ‘externalisation’ of policy advice, not least the...
Whereas a substantial empirical literature has investigated scale economies in local government, by contrast little effort has been directed at economies of scope. Indeed, to date, very few published studies on scope economies in local government exist using...
Mining is almost invariably contentious since it not only generates significant income, including tax revenues, but also simultaneously inflicts heavy costs on the inhabitants of the areas in which mining occurs. In terms of Australian state and territory legal...
This paper considers “measuring what matters” in local government and applies a Council Sustainability Index (CSI) to all 308 Portuguese municipalities. Using a Multi-criteria Decision Analysis Methodology (MCDA), an additive evaluation model is applied which...
Advocates of amalgamation typically claim that substantial scale economies flow from municipal mergers, which generate larger local government entities by population size. We examined whether economies of scale exist in council outlays by analysing the expenditure...
The assessment of the impact of European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF) on Portuguese local government and which factors determine it is important given the magnitude of funds involved. As part of this larger question, this paper considers whether the...
Substantial European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF) monies have been directed at regional economic and social development in Portugal in which Portuguese local government plays a vital role. Given the magnitude of funding, an important question revolves...
This research examines the economic structure of Australian local government areas (LGAs) in the Northern Territory (NT), South Australia (SA) and Western Australia (WA) using geospatial mapping, economic base theory and location quotients (LQs). Whereas the...
The expansion of Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM) philosophies has given rise to some improvements in decision making. However, the limits of IWRM also need to be recognised. This paper is used to scrutinise the need for integrated decisions when...
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