由於經濟社會的發展，促成了都市的緊密生活關係與外部效果的擴大 ，結果將使大都市與相鄰城鎮、郊區形成一個都市化的都會地區。由於都 會區內各地方政府位階不同，必然導致彼此間在職權和轄區方面的衝突， 因此，恐不易透過協調合作方式來解決根本的問題，乃有將台北縣、基隆 市併入台北市，擴大行政區域之議。台北市行政區域擴大後，大台北都會 區將面臨財政收支同時增加的現象。本文研究的目的，即在探討合併後財 政收支的可能能情形，並針對支出大於收入的財政負擔，參酌其他地方政 府之整體區域均衡發展，對中央、省、直轄市間的財政收支劃分預作調整 規劃，輔以收入方面之開源及支出方面之節流擬議，以期解決大台北都會 區之財政困境。

Essay I (with Mattias Öhman): Fluoridation of the drinking water is a public policy whose aim is to improve dental health. Although the evidence is clear that fluoride is good for dental health, concerns have been raised regarding potential negative effects on cognitive development. We study the effects of fluoride exposure through the drinking water in early life on cognitive and non-cognitive ability, education and labor market outcomes in a large-scale setting. We use a rich Swedish register dataset for the cohorts born 1985-1992, together with drinking water fluoride data. To estimate the effect we exploit intra-municipality variation of fluoride, stemming from an exogenous variation in the bedrock. First, we investigate and confirm the long-established positive relationship between fluoride and dental health. Second, we find precisely estimated zero effects on cognitive ability, non-cognitive ability and education. We do not find any evidence that fluoride levels below 1.5 mg/l have negative effects. Third, we find evidence that fluoride improves labor market outcome later in life, which indicates that good dental health is a positive factor on the labor market. / Essay II: Motivated by the intense public debate in the United States regarding politicians’ backgrounds, I investigate the effects of electing a candidate with earlier experience from elective office to the House of Representatives. The U.S. two-party-system with single-member election districts enables me to estimate the causal effect in a RD design where the outcomes are measured at the election district level. I find some indications that candidates with earlier elective experience are more likely to be members of important congressional committees. I also find some indications that directed federal spending (pork barrel spending) is higher in those districts were the elected representative had earlier elective experience prior of being elected to the House, but the effect manifests itself some years after the election. In contrast, I find no robust or statistically significant effects for personal income per capita or unemployment rate in the home district. / Essay III: This paper uses Swedish and Finnish municipal data to investigate the effect of changes in voter turnout on the tax rate, public spending and vote-shares. A reform in Sweden in 1970, which overall lowered the cost of voting, is applied as an instrument for voter turnout in local elections. The reform increased voter turnout in Sweden. The higher voter turnout resulted in higher municipal taxes and greater per capita local public spending. There are also indications that higher turnout decreased the vote share for right-wing parties. I use an individual survey data set to conclude that it was in particular low income earners that began to vote to a greater extent after the reform. / Essay IV (with Lovisa Persson): In a theoretical model where voters and politicians have different preferences for how much to spend on basic welfare services contra reception services for asylum seekers, we conclude that established politicians that are challenged by right-wing populists will implement a policy with no spending on asylum seekers if the cost is high enough. Additionally, adjustment to right-wing populist policy is more likely when the economy is in a recession. Voters differ in their level of private consumption in such a way that lower private consumption implies higher demand for basic welfare services at the expense of reception of asylum seekers, and thus stronger disposition to support right-wing populist policies. We propose that this within-budget-distributional conflict can arise as an electorally decisive conflict dimension if parties have converged to the median voter on the size-of-government issue.

Cette thèse a pour but de contribuer à la connaissance des facteurs et processus politiques agissant sur les finances des collectivités locales. Cette problématique est étudiée à partir d'une analyse empirique des comptes des communes françaises. Les deux premiers chapitres de cette thèse visent à étudier les liens entre décideurs politiques de différents échelons de pouvoir public et leur impact sur l'allocation territoriale de fonds publics d'investissement. L'analyse se concentre sur les subventions d'investissement reçues par les municipalités, et montre un impact important du cumul des mandats ainsi que de la carrière d'élu local des responsables politiques nationaux sur l'allocation de ces transferts. Le troisième chapitre de cette thèse vise à évaluer l'impact des inégalités de revenu au niveau municipal sur les décisions de finance publique locale. Cette analyse s'inscrit dans une abondante littérature en Économie Politique visant à déterminer l'impact de la distribution des revenus sur les processus de décision publique. Les résultats montrent un rôle significatif des inégalités de revenu sur les niveaux d'infrastructure publique municipale et de taxation locale. / This thesis aims at bringing new knowledge on political factors and processes affecting local governments. This investigation is made through an empirical analysis of French municipalities’ accounts. The first two chapters of this thesis investigate the impact of links between politicians of different tiers of government on the territorial allocation of public investment funds. The analysis focuses on discretionary investment grants received by municipalities. Evidence shows an important impact of multiple office-holding, and a significant influence of top national politicians’ career in local councils on the allocation of these transfers. The third chapter of this thesis aims at studying the impact of local income inequality on local public decisions. This work contributes to an important literature in Political Economy on the impact of income distribution on political processes. Evidence suggests a significant role of income inequality on local public investment and local taxation.

不論是坊間或專業團體所發布的數據、圖表、民調等資料都可以發現，當台灣地方政府面臨債務餘額逐年增加的同時，地方民眾仍支持政府舉辦大型活動，此即為財政幻覺的具體表徵。本論文研究之動機，便是想探討民眾是否受到政府支出的誘惑，進而支持政府過度發行公債以達成政府過度支出的情形。 文獻回顧的部分，除了介紹財政幻覺基本經濟模型外，還有介紹財政幻覺實證研究結果。接續財政幻覺介紹之後，討論台灣地方政府自有財源不足但民眾仍支持開銷龐大項目的現象。此部分並引入目前台灣地方政府各種大型活動之預算以及活動支出概況數據表格，顯示出台灣地方政府的大型活動開銷金額支龐大。文獻回顧最後，介紹行為財政學與行為經濟學之應用，並利用行為財政學之模型作為此篇論文的理論模型。 經濟模型的部份，討論跨期模型時，把誘惑因素以及利他因素加入至模型中，並求解民眾在第一、二期受到利他與誘惑這兩者之間抗衡的結果。模型推論最後發現，就減少第一期舉債數量來看，單獨只有誘惑因素影響，沒有明顯之效果；但是只有利他因素的影響，效果比同時考慮誘惑、利他因素的結果還要有效。這表示利他因素對於抑制政府舉債數量有一定之影響力。 本論文最後提到研究之限制，為理論模型尚且未能充分反應台灣真實狀況，期許未來學術研究能夠引入台灣的數據資料，為台灣地方政府政策研究貢獻一份心力。 / One of the most notable developments in recent Taiwan’s local public finance is to witness the growing size of debts and the growing popularity among constituency of those governments. To coin the term of fiscal illusion, most conventional literature takes the complexity of the taxation system as the major driving factor. Empirical studies are also surveyed in the thesis to compare to the phenomena in Taiwan. We use the stylized facts of Taiwan’s local spending to justify the use of a behavioral public finance model. Specifically, we develop a simple dynamic model incorporating bequest, debt financing, payroll tax with an unique temptation effect to address fiscal illusion. The findings show that bequest motive dominates the temptation effect in curbing debt financing.

L’objectif de cette thèse est d’introduire de manière explicite les caractéristiques personnelles des décideurs publics dans l’analyse de processus politiques français. Trois cas sont successivement analysés, soulevant chacun une problématique distincte. Le premier chapitre s’intéresse à l’échelon municipal, et se base sur un jeu de données original comportant des informations sur l’ensemble des maires des municipalités de plus de 10000 habitants entre 2000 et 2012. L’objectif est de décrire comment l’influence idiosyncratique d’un maire sur la politique d’investissement municipal impacte sa probabilité de réélection. Les résultats indiquent que plus la taille de la municipalité augmente, moins les électeurs se basent sur ce type d’information. Le second chapitre a pour objet la production législative française, et s’appuie également sur une base de données originale. Un double cycle de production législative émerge, généré par les élections présidentielles et législatives. Il apparaît également que les caractéristiques personnelles des ministres influencent la stratégie du gouvernement, notamment l’âge et l’expérience. Enfin, le troisième chapitre se focalise sur l’impact de la compétition électorale sur le processus de recrutement politique. Un important travail de collecte de données concernant la production parlementaire de chaque député de la Ve République permet d’étudier cette relation ainsi que son évolution au cours de la période 1959-2012. Il en ressort que les députés élus dans des circonscriptions compétitives ont une activité parlementaire plus importante, toutes choses égales par ailleurs. Cependant, ce lien entre activité et compétition est en constante diminution depuis les années 1980. / The aim of this thesis is to explicitly introduce the decision-maker into the empirical analysis of different political processes in the French context. Three cases are successively analyzed,each raising a specific problematic. The first chapter focuses on French municipalities. A new original dataset, covering mayors of municipalities of more than 10,000 inhabitants over the period 2000-2012, underpins the study. The objective is to investigate to what extentthe mayor’s personal influence on the investment policy affects his/her reelection probability. Results show that this information plays a significant role only in small municipalities. Chapter twostudies the French legislative production, exploiting another original dataset. A dual cycle of the production of laws emerges, connected to both the presidential and the legislative elections. A link between government members’ personal characteristics and legislative output is established. Finally, chapter three investigates the relationship between electoral competition and political selection. A third important dataset providing data about the individual parliamentary work of the deputies over the period 1958-2012 allows such an analysis. Resultsindicate that deputies elected in contested districts have a higher overall productivity. The intensity of the relationship reached its peak in the 1980’s, but is continuously decreasing since then.

L’objectif de cette thèse est d’étudier si la dette des gouvernements locaux doit faire l’objet d’inquiétudes, en se focalisant sur les cas français et canadiens (Québec et Ontario principalement). Le premier chapitre réalise une analyse descriptive des territoires à l’étude, et montre également que la dette municipale est nettement plus faible en Ontario qu’en France ou au Québec. Le deuxième chapitre analyse la santé financière des 30 plus grandes villes françaises et canadiennes. Il ressort notamment que les municipalités ayant un fort endettement ne sont pas nécessairement caractérisées par une situation financière précaire. Le troisième chapitre explore l’hypothèse d’une capitalisation négative de la dette publique municipale dans les valeurs foncières résidentielles moyennes de 130 municipalités au Québec et en Ontario. Les différents tests menés conduisent à des résultats instables, ne nous permettant pas de confirmer hors de tout doute notre hypothèse initiale. Un constat demeure cependant : le fardeau des ménages québécois qui doivent absorber des dettes publiques plus importantes est compensé par des valeurs de logement et un endettement privé plus faibles par rapport aux ménages de l’Ontario. Enfin, le quatrième chapitre étudie l’hypothèse d’un lien entre le degré d’intégration au sein du bloc communal (EPCI à fiscalité propre et communes membres) et la dette consolidée de ce dernier. Les tests réalisés font ressortir un impact négatif de l’intégration sur la dette du secteur communal et sur la dette des communes membres, indiquant qu’une plus grande intégration constituerait un levier efficace pour contribuer, avec les limitations légales, à une bonne maitrise de l’endettement du bloc / The aim of this thesis is to study if the debt of local governments is a threat to their fiscal health, by focusing on French and Canadian cases (mainly Québec and Ontario). The first chapter provides a descriptive analysis of the studied territories, and reveals that the local debt is significantly lower in Ontario, in comparison with France and Québec. The second chapter focuses on the fiscal health of the 30 largest French and Canadian cities. It shows that municipalities with a large debt are not always in a precarious financial situation. The third chapter investigates the hypothesis of a negative capitalization of municipal public debt in the average residential property values in 130 municipalities of Québec and Ontario. Our estimations give mixed results, and do not allow us to confirm our initial hypothesis beyond any doubt. Nevertheless, the household’s burden in Québec which have to finance larger municipal debts is offset by lower property prices and lower private indebtedness compared to Ontario’s households. Finally, the fourth chapter examines a French issue: the potential link between the integration level within intermunicipal community (EPCI and member municipalities) and the consolidated debt. Results show a negative effect of integration on the consolidated debt and on the debt of member municipalities, suggesting that a larger integration could be a complementary method to the legal restrictions of local indebtedness.

Essay 1 (with Mikael Elinder): We show that house prices in general did not respond to a large cut in the property tax in Sweden. Our estimates are based on rich register data covering more than 100,000 sales over a time period of two and a half years. Because the Swedish property tax is national and thus unrelated to local public goods, our setting is ideal for causal identification of the property tax on house prices. Our result that house prices did not respond to the tax cut at the time of implementation cannot be explained by early capitalization at the time of announcement. Two other stories appear to explain our results. First, it is possible that house buyers expect an offsetting increase in the supply of housing. Second, house buyers might simply not understand how the tax cut affects total future costs of owning a house. Unfortunately, it has proven difficult to disentangle the two mechanisms, and we must therefore conclude that both may be relevant. Essay 2:  I investigate government consumption smoothing (sensitivity) under a balanced budget rule in Swedish municipalities. In general, I find Swedish municipalities to be highly consumption sensitive. Municipalities consume 87.6% out of predicted current revenues in the time period leading up to the implementation of the balanced budget rule, and they consume 76.3% out of predicted current revenue in thetime period following the implementation. Fiscally weak municipalities are found to be more consumption sensitive than fiscally strong municipalities. Very weak municipalities have become more consumption sensitive compared with very strong municipalities since the implementation of the balanced budget rule. Thus, I find indicative evidence that both credit market constraints and formal budget rules such as balanced budget rules increase municipal consumption sensitivity Essay 3: Using the Swedish municipal sector as my political laboratory, I study the effect of a coalition partner on policy outcomes. I use a version of Regression-Discontinuity Design (RDD) specifically suited to proportional systems to define close elections, which can be used for identifying the effect of the Left Party as coalition partner to the Social Democrats. The Left Party is found to have a positive and medium sized effect on the municipal income tax rate. The positive effect is in line with what we expect given the policy preferences of Left Party representatives, but also given the predictions from political fragmentation theory. I find no effects on expenditures or debt, and the negative result for investments is not robust. Essay 4 (with Linuz Aggeborn): In a model where voters and politicians have different preferences for how much to spend on basic welfare services contra immigration, we conclude that established politicians that are challenged by right-wing populists will implement a policy with no spending on immigration if the cost of immigration is high enough. Additionally, adjustment to right-wing populist policy is more likely when the economy is in a recession. Voters differ in their level of private consumption in such a way that lower private consumption implies higher demand for basic welfare services at the expense of immigration, and thus stronger disposition to support right-wing populist policies. We propose that this within-budget-distributional conflict can arise as an electorally decisive conflict dimension if parties have converged to the median voter on the size-of-government issue. / <p>Felaktigt isbn: 978-91-85519-61-3</p>

State and local governments play an important role in financing and delivering public services in the United States. In 2008, state and local governments collected 57 percent of total federal, state, and local revenue (Urban Institute and Brookings Institution, Tax Policy Center, 2009). The decentralization of fiscal responsibility has enabled a high degree of variation in state and local tax structures to emerge. This dissertation presents two empirical studies that extend the positive literature on state and local tax policy. The extant literature contains evidence of a direct relationship between voter ideology and state and local tax progressivity. However, the measures of voter ideology that were used either did not capture differences in the intensity of voter liberalism across states, did not vary over time, or were beset with other limitations. This study uses the measure of average voter liberalism developed by Berry et al (1998). I find that average voter liberalism is significantly and positively-related to progressivity. However, the effect is small in magnitude. The ethnic congruence between the poor and the non-poor is positively-related to progressivity and the effects are economically significant. The degree of tension between ethnic groups, measured with an index of ethnic residential segregation, is significantly and inversely-related to progressivity. Both variables are statistically significant even with average voter liberalism held constant. It is possible that the ethnic demographic context reflects aspects of voters’ redistributive preferences that are not captured by measures of ideology. Researchers have found relationships between states’ tax exporting capacities and the tax structures they adopt. Chapter 4 is the first study to examine the relationship between state tax exporting capacities and the business sales taxes. I find that the effective sales tax rate that governments impose on business purchases is not significantly influenced by a state’s capacity to export business taxes. It is, however, significantly and positively affected by a state’s ability to export taxes on households through the deductibility of state and local taxes under the federal income tax. A decrease in this offset is predicted to lead to an increase in the effective business sales tax rate, ceteris paribus.

Aquesta tesi utilitza l'anàlisi econòmica per a estudiar les hisendes locals, especialment els aspectes relacionats amb la provisió i finançament dels béns i serveis públics locals. Les hisendes locals, tant a Catalunya com a la resta d'Espanya, pateixen diversos problemes. Dos són especialment rellevants per a aquesta tesi. El primer és la reduïda dimensió dels municipis, l'altre la seva insuficient dotació financera. A la tesi es tracten aquestes dues qüestions en cinc capítols. Primer s'introdueix la problemàtica, exposant-ne els antecedents, la situació actual i la metodologia per al seu anàlisi. A continuació s'aborda la relació entre la grandària dels municipis i la seva capacitat per a proveir béns i serveis públics. De manera recurrent es produeixen debats sobre els problemes que pateixen els municipis petits. El problema més evident d'aquests municipis és el dèficit de serveis públics. Es sol argumentar que els municipis petits pateixen aquests dèficits en la provisió de serveis públics a causa de la manca d'un nombre crític d'habitants. Normalment es presenta la consolidació municipal com a solució a aquest problema. En aquest treball analitzem les diferents vessants de la qüestió dels dèficits de serveis municipals.Es continua analitzant com influeix sobre el sector privat la incapacitat per part dels municipis de prestar la quantitat i/o qualitat correcta de béns i serveis públics. Sembla clar que l'atractiu d'un hotel per als seus clients depèn tant dels serveis que ofereix com de l'entorn en què es troba. Com s'ha dit sovint "un hotel de quatre estrelles necessita un entorn de quatre estrelles". Aquests atributs que configuren l'entorn són complementaris a l'oferta privada dels serveis hotelers i són essencials a l'hora de definir les opcions de comercialització, ja que sembla raonable que diferències en les dotacions de serveis públics, capital natural i imatge de la localitat generaran diferències en els preus d'hotels que altrament són idèntics. A la següent etapa s'estudia la situació financera a la qual s'enfronten els municipis a l'hora de proveir els béns i serveis públics, especialment en el cas de les localitats amb forta implantació de l'activitat turística. L'objectiu d'aquest estudi és doble. Primer, realitzar una anàlisi i un diagnòstic del finançament als municipis turístics i, segon, discutir diferents vies de millora. En una primera part s'exposa el marc que cal tenir en compte a l'hora de considerar les qüestions de provisió de serveis públics i els consegüents aspectes pressupostaris. Després es presenta un model estilitzat de provisió de béns públics i d'estructura pressupostària que explicita, amb la intenció de portar a terme l'anàlisi economètrica, les interrelacions rellevants entre provisió de serveis públics, ingressos fiscals i despeses. Tot seguit es presenten les dades que han de servir per a una anàlisi empírica que té dues vessants. Primer, estudiar si realment els municipis amb un fort pes de l'activitat turística presenten diferències en l'àmbit pressupostari i, segon, concretar quantificar en què consisteixen i de què depenen les diferències. El sisè apartat tracta la complementarietat entre béns i serveis públics des d'un marc normatiu, posant de manifest els aspectes que ha de tenir en compte un municipi turístic en les qüestions de provisió i finançament dels béns públics i que fan que tingui un comportament diferent d'un municipi no turístic. El penúltim apartat del treball inclou la discussió i l'avaluació d'algunes propostes correctores dels problemes detectats a l'anàlisi estadística i economètrica. El treball conclou amb un resum de les principals conclusions.La tesi conclou amb una discussió dels resultats obtinguts. / This thesis employs economic analysis to study local public finance, especially the aspects related to the provision and financing of local public goods.The second chapter analyses the deficit in the provision of public services in small municipalities. I begin with a theoretical setting where there are several municipalities each inhabited by a representative individual who must choose the quantity of public services given their prices. I develop an empirical analysis which focuses in testing our model and quantify the effects. With these results I question the common reasoning that, in order to suppress the deficit in the provision of services, municipality consolidation is unavoidable.The third chapter identifies and isolates the attributes which explain the variability of hotel supply prices. I proceed in two steps. First, I develop a "traditional" model of hedonic prices in a competitive market. Second, the paper builds a model of hotel price setting to estimate supply and demand functions. The main results are, first, to quantify the importance the effect of the tourism town in hotel prices and, second, to have the implicit prices for different hotel attributes.The fourth chapter deals with the claim that municipalities in tourism regions suffer from an endemic financial disequilibrium: quite high expenses (related with a de facto population which exceeds by far the de iure population) and inadequate revenues, which often depend on the de iure population. This might result either in higher deficit and borrowing figures or in lower provision of public goods. The latter would be particularly worrying for the quality of the tourism product, given the local government's essential role in tourism policy. This chapter models the decision of public good provision with the purpose of contrasting the existence of financial disequilibrium in tourism municipalities, as well as of explaining its origin. The evidence I present is conclusive, but not completely in favor of the thesis sustained by tourism municipalities: although it exists in general and strongly a financial deficit, the position of small tourism municipalities is quite different.The thesis ends with a summary of the main results.

La crise économique et financière de 2008 a été un moment révélateur pour les collectivités locales et les établissements de crédit dans l’utilisation des produits financiers structurés devenus « toxiques ». Depuis de nombreuses années, ces deux acteurs ont établi des relations contractuelles basées sur la combinaison de produits financiers classiques et de produits financiers dérivés devenus de plus en plus sophistiqués. Or, le contexte dans lequel ces relations s’exercent devient complexe et nécessite une prise de décision immédiate et durable pour encadrer leur avenir. Que ce soit le juge par sa jurisprudence ou l’État et le législateur qui ont mis en place un fonds de soutien, des lois, des circulaires et une charte, chacun a tenté de trouver des solutions aux problèmes rencontrés par les collectivités locales et leurs partenaires financiers.L’objet de notre thèse sera d’expliquer les raisons et les conséquences de l’utilisation, par les collectivités locales, de ces produits d’un nouveau genre proposés par les établissements de crédit. En suivant la chronologie des évènements que les acteurs en présence ont vécu, des réflexions juridiques seront menées autour de ces relations contractuelles passées, présentes et futures. / The 2008 economic crisis was a revealing event for local and regional authorities and credit institutions regarding the use of structured finance products, which had become « toxic ». For many years, both of them have been establishing contractual relationships based on the association of standard structured finance products and increasingly sophisticated derived finance products. However, as the context in which such relationships are taking place is becoming complex, an immediate and a sustainable decision-making is necessary to provide a framework to their future. Whether it is the judge through case laws or the State and the legislator through the development of a support fund, various laws, circular notes and a charter, each of them has tried to find solutions to the problems faced by the local and regional authorities and their financial partners.The object of the thesis is to explain why local and regional authorities used this new type of finance products provided by credit institutions and what the resulting consequences were. Following the chronology of the events experienced by all of these stakeholders, legal considerations on these past, current and future contractual relationships will be presented.