Abstract There is a longstanding debate about whether the fiscal and institutional arrangements for the provision of quality urban services should be more dispersed or concentrated. We contribute to the debate by exploring the link between fiscal arrangements and public service quality by compiling a unique panel dataset of the quality indicators for major U.S. urban park systems and their funding sources from different types of overlapping local jurisdictions. This article shows that a more dispersed fiscal arrangement among cities, counties, and special districts is negatively associated with the quality of urban park systems. We conclude the article by discussing possible mechanisms of why such a negative correlation between more dispersed fiscal arrangement and the quality of public services applies to shared amenities like urban parks services. The nature of public services seems to be the key to understanding this relationship.

中文翻译：

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探索财政安排与公共服务质量之间的联系：来自美国主要城市公园系统的证据

摘要 关于提供优质城市服务的财政和制度安排应该更分散还是更集中，长期以来一直存在争论。我们通过为美国主要城市公园系统及其来自不同类型重叠地方司法管辖区的资金来源编制质量指标的独特面板数据集，探索财政安排与公共服务质量之间的联系，从而为辩论做出贡献。本文表明，城市、县和特区之间更分散的财政安排与城市公园系统的质量呈负相关。我们通过讨论为什么更分散的财政安排与公共服务质量之间的这种负相关适用于城市公园服务等共享设施的可能机制来结束本文。公共服务的性质似乎是理解这种关系的关键。