Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-r5fsc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T06:24:53.543Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Some Measurement Criteria for Community Service Output and Costs: The Case of Fire Protection in Texas*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 April 2015

Fredrick J. Hitzhusen
Fredrick J. Hitzhusen*
Affiliation:
The Ohio State University
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Considerable use has been made of per capita (or per unit of income) expenditures of various community or local government services to indicate size economies and inter-community service quality and fiscal effort differentials. Indiscriminate use of these per capita measures (particularly those including only operating expenditures) may lead to very questionable policy recommendations on local government consolidation, state and federal grant-in-aid formulas, etc. Many related public and private costs are not included in most per capita expenditure data. In addition, expenditure figures are seldom adjusted for price or service “quality” differentials between governmental units.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics , Volume 5 , Issue 1 , July 1973 , pp. 99 - 107
Copyright
Copyright © Southern Agricultural Economics Association 1973

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

*

This paper is based on one of the empirical sections of the author's Ph.D. dissertation completed at Cornell University, Ithaca, New York.

References

[1]Breton, Albert, “Scale Effects in Local and Metropolitan Government Expenditures,” Land Economics, XLI, No. 4, Nov. 1965, pp. 370–372.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[2]Burtner, Carrol E., “The Economics of a Fire Protection Program,” Fire Technology, 2, No. 1, Feb. 1966, pp. 5–14.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[3]Crager, MinorB., Legal Aspects of Fire Prevention and Control in Texas, Institute of Public Affairs, Austin, Texas, 1969.Google Scholar
[4]Davis, O. A., and Haines, G. W., “A Political Approach to a Theory of Public Expenditure: The Case of Municipalities,” National Tax Journal, XIXI, No. 3, Sept. 1966, pp. 259–275.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[5]Fisher, G. H., “Cost Functions and Budgets: Cost Considerations in Systems Analysis,” The Analysis of Public Output, Margolis, Julius (ed.), National Bureau of Economic Research, New York, 1970, pp. 231–265.Google Scholar
[6]Hirsch, Werner Z., “Expenditure Implications of Metropolitan Growth and Consolidation,” Review of Economics and Statistics, XLI, No. 3, Aug. 1959, pp. 232–241.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[7]Hirsch, Werner Z., “Quality of Government Services,” Schaller, Howard G. (ed.), Public Expenditure Decisions in the Urban Community, Resources for the Future, Inc., Washington. D.C., 1962, pp. 163–179.Google Scholar
[8]Hirsch, Werner Z., “The Supply of Urban Public Services,” Perloff, Harvey S. and Wingo, Lowdon (eds.), Issues in Urban Economics, Johns Hopkins Press, 1968, pp. 477–524.Google Scholar
[9]League of California Cities, The Fire Protection Grading Process as Related to the Economics of Fire Protection, Los Angeles, April, 1961, p. 65.Google Scholar
[10]Morss, Eliott R., “Some Thoughts on the Determinants of State and Local Expenditures,” National Tax Journal, XIX, No. 1, March, 1966, pp. 95–103.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[11]National Board of Fire Underwriters, Standard Schedule for Grading Gties and Towns of the United States with Reference to Their Fire Defenses and Physical Conditions, New York, Chicago and San Francisco, 1956.Google Scholar
[12]Osman, Jack W., “The Dual Impact of Federal Aid on State and Local Government Expenditures,” National Tax Journal, XIX, No. 4, Dec. 1966, pp. 363–372.Google Scholar
[13]Pickett, John C., Optimal Quantity of Fire Department Services, unpublished Ph.D. thesis, University of Missouri, Columbia, 1970.Google Scholar
[14]Pidot, George B., “A Principal Components Analysis of the Determinants of Local Government Fiscal Patterns,” The Review of Economics and Statistics, LI, No. 2, May, 1969, pp. 176–188.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[15]Ridley, Clarence E., “Measuring Municipal Government,” Public Administration Service and the School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University, 1927.Google Scholar
[16]Samuelson, Paul A., “Aspects of Public Expenditure Theories,” The Review of Economics and Statistics, XL, No. 4, Nov. 1958, pp. 332–338.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[17]Schmandt, Henry J. and Stephens, G. Ross, “Measuring Municipal Output” National Tax Journal, XIII, No. 4, Dec. 1960, pp. 369–375.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[18]Shapiro, Harvey, “Measuring Local Government Output: A Comment,” National Tax Journal, 14, Dec. 1961, pp. 394–397.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[19]Smith, David L., “The Response of State and Local Governments to Federal Grants,” National Tax Journal, XXI, No. 3, Sept. 1968, pp. 349–357.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[20] “Texas Fire Record Credit and Debit Systems,” Texas Legislative Council, Report No. 60-1, Austin, Texas, Jan. 1969.Google Scholar
[21]Texas Research League, Regulation of Insurance in Texas, Austin, Texas, Dec. 1958.Google Scholar
[22]The Grading of Municipal Fire Protection Facilities: Its Relationship to Fire Insurance and to the Municipality's Fire Protection Policy, National League of Cities, Washington, D.C., July, 1967.Google Scholar
[23]Tiebout, Charles M., “A Pure Theory of Local Expenditures,” The Journal of Political Economy, Oct. 1956.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[24]Tiebout, Charles M., “Economics of Scale and Metropolitan Governments,” Review of Economics and Statistics, Nov. 1960.Google Scholar
[25]Will, Robert E., “Scalar Economies and Urban Service Requirements,” Yale Economic Essays, 5, Spring 1965.Google Scholar
[26]Williams, Alan, “The Optimal Provision of Public Goods in a System of Local Government,” Journal of Political Economy, LXXIV, No. 1, Feb. 1966, pp. 18–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar