Prós e contras dos aspectos econômicos e administrativos da fusão de municípios: uma revisão da literatura e reflexões para o contexto brasileiro

Abstract

The large increase in the creation of municipalities in Brazil and in some countries of the world has brought debates about its consequences, the main one being related to higher public spending in small and low-infrastructure local governments. Specifically in Brazil, as a way to mitigate or even put an end to these consequences, mainly fiscal, caused by the unbridled increase of municipalities, the Proposed Amendment to Constitution 188/2019 emerged, which provides for the exclusion of municipalities according to some parameters, such as the minimum population. In this aspect, the present work aims to conduct a systematic review of the literature regarding the merger of municipalities and their reflections of economic and administrative content, through exploratory and descriptive research. In the readings, the advantages obtained in the countries that implemented the merger process were observed, as well as the disadvantages found, either in practical form – after the fusion process – as theoretical – resulting from further studies of the reform. The results presented in the studies reveal that the 3 main benefits of the merger of municipalities revolve around the economy of scale and scope, as well as the provision of services of higher quality and efficiency. The disadvantages of the reform deal more with democratic participation and greater distance between the population and their representatives.