Nelson, M. A. (1990). Decentralization of the subnational public sector: An empirical analysis of the determinants of local government structure in metropolitan areas in the US.
The objectives of this research are twofold. The first involves addressing the following question: To what extent can the degree of homogeneity of citizen preferences for locally-provided public services explain the considerable differences that exist in local government organization among major metropolitan areas in the U.S.? Despite the substantial theoretical literature on this topic, there has been surprisingly little in the way of empirical research ...