TY - JOUR
T1 - An analysis of returns to scale in public production, with an application to fire protection
AU - Duncombe, William
AU - Yinger, John
PY - 1993/8
Y1 - 1993/8
N2 - This paper analyzes returns to scale in public production. Existing studies fail to differentiate among three dimensions of scale: service quality, the level of governmental activity, and the number of people served. A fourth dimension, economies of scope, is need for agencies that provide multiple services. This paper provides a formal definition of returns to scale for each dimension. This framework is applied to fire protection, using a translog cost function with two services, fire prevention and fire suppression. The results indicate economies of scope, increasing returns to quality scale, and constant returns to population scale.
AB - This paper analyzes returns to scale in public production. Existing studies fail to differentiate among three dimensions of scale: service quality, the level of governmental activity, and the number of people served. A fourth dimension, economies of scope, is need for agencies that provide multiple services. This paper provides a formal definition of returns to scale for each dimension. This framework is applied to fire protection, using a translog cost function with two services, fire prevention and fire suppression. The results indicate economies of scope, increasing returns to quality scale, and constant returns to population scale.
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U2 - 10.1016/0047-2727(93)90104-2
DO - 10.1016/0047-2727(93)90104-2
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:38248999303
SN - 0047-2727
VL - 52
SP - 49
EP - 72
JO - Journal of Public Economics
JF - Journal of Public Economics
IS - 1
ER -