Tuesday, March 3, 2026 13:30 - 14:45

This event is both online and in person.

SAL 2.04, 2nd Floor Conference Room, Sir Arthur Lewis Building, LSE, 32 Lincoln's Inn Fields, London WC2A 3PH

Online participants are welcome:
Please sign up to our mailinglist (seminar_ceplab) to receive event updates and a link to the seminar online.

About this event

Between 1945 and 1990, suburbanization dramatically reduced population in American urban cores. In response, the 150 largest cities in America collectively added 11,500 square miles of fast-growing, outlying areas to their boundaries. Using new comprehensive data on city boundaries, municipal finance, and public good provision, we estimate that the average expansion increased the municipal population by 42%. Through a stacked difference-in-differences design exploiting sharp annexation events, we evaluate how boundary expansions impacted municipal finance and public good provision. Ten years after an annexation event, per capita expenditures and revenues decrease by -23%. The largest declines occur in current expenditures and labor-intensive services such as fire and policing. We find little evidence of declines in public service provision, suggesting that expansions yielded economies of scale in public good provision. Decreased costs allow treated cities to lower property tax rates. Municipal fiscal efficiency translated to increased aggregate economic activity: counties with annexing central cities see 5% higher population, employment, and establishments relative to counties with comparable, non-annexing jurisdictions.

Participants are expected to adhere to the CEP Events Code of Conduct.

Directions

This event will take place in SAL 2.04, 2nd Floor Conference Room, Sir Arthur Lewis Building, LSE, 32 Lincoln's Inn Fields, London WC2A 3PH.

Online participants are welcome:
Please sign up to our mailinglist (seminar_ceplab) to receive event updates and a link to the seminar online.

The building is labelled SAL on the LSE campus map. You can also find us on Google Maps. For further information, go to contact us.

Labour Markets Workshops are part of the CEP's Labour Markets programme.