consolidated government and one without.<sup>23</sup> The authors find the evidence to be mixed. The mean dissatisfaction level was higher in the five consolidated communities, but among matched pairs of communities, individuals in the consolidated areas were more satisfied in three of the five cases. In addition, citizens living in the fragmented system were less informed about the scope of local service provision, attributing almost three extra services to the local municipality. The authors note that people have less capacity to hold governments accountable by comparing tax levels and service provision when there is a lack of knowledge of which government is responsible for which services. Finally, Lyons and Lowery find that the feeling of efficacy and levels of voice activity are higher in three of the five consolidated communities. The authors note that results that appear contrary to the Tiebout predictions might be driven in part by other analysts’ misconceptions that consolidated governments provide a uniform tax-service package to all individuals within their jurisdiction. Lexington, the consolidated municipality, offers several packages through “Partial Urban Services Districts” each of which has its own tax base.

Mouiritzen (1989) uses Danish survey data and finds evidence in favor of greater satisfaction with smaller governments. The increased satisfaction was attributed to smaller communities being more homogeneous and individuals feeling that democracy and participation were better served. These are outcomes that would be expected within the Tiebout model.

The issue of satisfaction with government services has also been addressed by directly examining whether populations inside each government become more homogeneous as the number of governments rises. The expectation is that more homogeneous populations translate into greater satisfaction because governments will be better able to meet the more narrowly defined needs of residents. Dowding et al. (1994) note that a greater number of governments almost certainly guarantees more homogeneity of tastes within each government. Evidence is found in the literature that homogeneity within each government, as measured by populations that are more alike based on age, income, race, and education, rises with the number of governments. Whether the greater degree of homogeneity leads to more efficient resource allocation is not clear from the literature reviewed by Dowding et al., but they note that more efficient resource allocation seems to be a reasonable assumption.

While the above research has sought to discover if there is greater homogeneity with more government units, others have observed that in many instances people with different demographics, and by assumption tastes, choose to live in the same communities. Given the observed heterogeneity, the question asked is whether this phenomenon is consistent with the Tiebout theory. In other words, are measures of age, income, race, and education appropriate for representing the service demands of 23 Telephone interviews were conducted in the urban Kentucky areas of Louisville-Jefferson County (population 685,004 with almost 100 incorporated municipalities) and Lexington-Fayette County (population 204,000 with one city-county government). Education was not included in the local services considered, as both municipalities had a consolidated school system. Tests were preformed to determine if the differences in means were statistically significant.

23