POLICY PAYOFFS IN LOCAL-GOVERNMENT

This article applies the portfolio allocation model of government form ation to the formation of local government administrations in general, with a particular empirical application to the formation of administr ations in British local authorities with hung councils. First, the imp lications of the portfolio allocation model for the formation of local administrations are discussed. Secondly, this model is operationalize d in the context of British local politics, and specific empirical imp lications are explicitly derived from it. Thirdly, these implications are systematically evaluated against the recent experience of the form ation of local administrations in Britain. The results suggest that po licy is indeed important in the formation of British local administrat ions, but that more than a single left-right dimension of financial po licy is needed to describe this process adequately.