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And both are a function of size rather than government. Joel Send a noteboard - 14/10/2011 11:08:53 AM
As you alluded to in your link title. That leaves us back at debating whether a service should be largely available at all, not who should provide it. If the answer is "yes, it should be largely available" then centralization optimizes whatever economies or diseconomies of scale are inherent in that; the reference you and others have made to 49 left hands not knowing what the right one is doing are prime examples of the communication costs and duplicated effort the Wikipedia article blames for diseconomy of scale. It is probably unavoidable in a federal bureaucracy, but maintaing 50 state bureucracies to provide the same public service intentionally exacerbates it. The factors responsible are diseconomies inherent to the scale of those USING, not PROVIDING, the service, but the greater economy of scale in a federal provider reduces those factors below what they would be in 50 state providers. Likewise, the problem of too many chiefs and not enough indians is multiplied fifty-fold when one tribe with one chief is divided into 50 tribes with 50 chiefs. The remaining example from the Wikipedia article is politics but, politics is obviously inherent in any political system so, once again, replacing one federal system with 50 state ones only multiplies rather than reducing the problem.

Federal centralization has flaws, but to far less a degree than those same flaws exist in attempts to meet national needs through myriad state and local governments. When a good or service is a local rather than national concern, it naturally makes sense to address it at that level rather than creating a federal bureaucracy to manage citrus agriculture largely confined to about ten states. When a good or service is a marginal concern at every level it is hard to justify as a community concern justifying tax expenditures at any level. Otherwise, national concerns, however, are naturally and justifiably addressed at the national level, so that economies of scale in supply reduce the diseconomies of scale in demand as much as possible.
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States and Federal Government - 13/10/2011 05:08:14 AM 571 Views
No. - 13/10/2011 05:59:07 AM 357 Views
Re: No. - 13/10/2011 07:07:14 AM 346 Views
Re: No. - 13/10/2011 01:59:58 PM 336 Views
Economy of scale applies to every private bureaucracy, but not government ones. - 13/10/2011 06:53:44 PM 326 Views
of course economy of scale applies just like diseconomy of scale - 13/10/2011 10:38:45 PM 384 Views
And both are a function of size rather than government. - 14/10/2011 11:08:53 AM 408 Views
This is a ridiculous claim - 13/10/2011 09:44:35 PM 332 Views
you can do it with block grants - 13/10/2011 06:13:48 AM 316 Views
Believing the states can't do it, is not the same as saying the states will be less efficent or more *NM* - 13/10/2011 06:42:34 AM 129 Views
That is a BS argument - 13/10/2011 02:08:23 PM 324 Views
Medicaid is already state-managed - 13/10/2011 06:22:54 AM 419 Views
Yep, You're correct. - 13/10/2011 06:53:38 AM 340 Views
I think you just pinpointed my basic problem with vouchers. - 13/10/2011 06:36:58 PM 363 Views
Ah, Tricare - 13/10/2011 10:07:59 PM 321 Views
I pretty much agree with this - 13/10/2011 02:03:04 PM 323 Views
No I do not believe they do could do Medicare or Social Security more effectively *NM* - 13/10/2011 06:41:03 AM 134 Views
Care to elaborate? *NM* - 13/10/2011 06:55:21 AM 157 Views
If programs to ensure federal citizen rights were divided among the states it would invite disparity - 13/10/2011 06:50:02 PM 396 Views
<Type Random Subject Here> - 13/10/2011 09:55:04 PM 333 Views
Because some things do not matter much with geography and culture - 14/10/2011 02:20:04 AM 315 Views
Yet again I must disagree - 14/10/2011 05:04:43 AM 333 Views
I agree, it's not necessarily that the need itself changes... - 14/10/2011 09:06:19 AM 311 Views
The first thought that came to mind..... - 13/10/2011 08:55:36 PM 335 Views
I disagree - 13/10/2011 09:49:15 PM 391 Views
Except when its time to retire.... - 14/10/2011 04:03:22 PM 313 Views
Absolutely not *NM* - 14/10/2011 10:55:01 AM 160 Views

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