During the 1960s and 1970s, the German state governments reduced the number of municipalities. Many independent municipalities in the outskirts of a city became a district of the respective city. Using propensity score matching, I examine how the reforms influenced population growth in these...

A lack of transparency about policy performance can pose a major obstacle to welfareenhancing policy competition across jurisdictions. In parallel surveys with German citizens and state parliamentarians, we document that both groups misperceive the performance of their state's education system....