지방자치단체 간 행정구역 통합과 재정적 효과

Target Areas and Fiscal Effects of Administrative District Consolidation

The need of autonomous administrative district consolidation among municipalities has been steadily increasing in Korea. The present study explores areas in need of administrative district consolidation and forecasts the fiscal effect of the consolidation. The present study adopts data as of 2006 and 2011,targeting the nation excepting Jeju Special Self-Governing Province and Ulleung-Gun. Analyses of target areas of the consolidation are theoretically based on theory of settlement system, while the per capita cost saving effect is estimated using minimum cost approach. According to the result, areas in need of the consolidation are 44 in 2006, and 46 in 2011. Per capita administrative cost led by the consolidation largely differs between regions and the consolidation areas. Areas that are expected to have more than 550,000 people after the consolidation tend to have increased external diseconomy, while plenty number of areas, both in 2006 and 2011 data sets, are expected to have lowered per capita administrative costs after the consolidation. From the findings of the present study, it is recommended to select areas that are highly connected to each other and are expected to have distinct economic returns after the consolidation.