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Cited by 57Local Government Finance and DecentralizationLocal Governance and PlanningPublic Policy and Administration Research

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 1 of the 1 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.

Is Government Consolidation the Answer?

Jimenez, Benedict S., Hendrick, Rebecca·2010·State and Local Government Review
DOI 10.1177/0160323x10386805
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Abstract

The Great Recession that started in late 2007 is threatening to alter the local government landscape in the United States. With the steep decline in property and sales taxes, a number of state governments are now reviewing how their local government systems can be restructured to improve service delivery. Scholars from two camps—the advocacy of regional versus multiple centers of local government—have proposed contrasting visions of how the local public sector should be organized. The century-old debate between regionalists and localists has generated a considerable body of theoretical and empirical literature from which state governments can draw as they consider the most effective way of organizing their local governments. This essay discusses the different arguments for local government fragmentation versus consolidation, reviews the empirical evidence, and identifies future areas of research. It focuses on the impacts of the local public sector structure on service delivery, social class and racial segregation, and urban sprawl.

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Crossref · 10.1177/0160323x10386805

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Cited by

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Metadata

Authors
Jimenez, B. S., & Hendrick, R.
Affiliations
  • Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey (US)
  • University of Illinois Chicago (US)
Corresponding author
Jimenez, Benedict S.
ORCID
Venue
State and Local Government Review
Publisher
SAGE Publications
Published
2010-11-23
Volume
42
Issue
3
Pages
258-270
ISSN
  • 0160-323X (ISSN-L)
  • 1943-3409
DOI
10.1177/0160323x10386805
OpenAlex
W2154700117
Cited by
57
References
1
Citations by year
2026: 2 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 4 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 5 · 2019: 7 · 2018: 4 · 2017: 4 · 2016: 6 · 2015: 1 · 2014: 8 · 2013: 5 · 2012: 1
FWCI
14.46
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Licence
journals.sagepub.com/page/policies/text-and-data-mining-license (tdm)
Locations
State and Local Government Review (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › Local Government Finance and Decentralization
  • Social Sciences › Geography, Planning and Development › Local Governance and Planning
  • Social Sciences › Public Administration › Public Policy and Administration Research
Keywords
municipal mergers, local government fragmentation, Great Recession, local government reform, public service delivery, social class segregation, racial segregation, urban sprawl, state government policy

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CoChat. (2026). Citation check: Is Government Consolidation the Answer? https://app.cochat.ai/papers/10.1177/0160323x10386805
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Jimenez, B. S., & Hendrick, R. (2010). Is Government Consolidation the Answer? State and Local Government Review. https://doi.org/10.1177/0160323x10386805

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Contains information from the Semantic Scholar Academic Graph Datasets, made available under the ODC Attribution License (ODC-BY 1.0).

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