Public choice theory and local government structure: An evaluation of reorganisation in scotland and wales

The aims of this paper are to outline a public choice model of local government structure and to compare the new local government systems in Scotland and Wales with this model. In principle, it should be possible to use public choice theory to draw clear conclusions on the relative merits of the old and new structures. The public choice perspective has been developed over a period of 40 years, largely on the basis of economic reasoning which is supposedly characterised by explicit assumptions and deductive rigour. This may be so in the abstract, but it remains to be seen whether public choice theory delivers definite judgements on real changes in local government structure.