St. Louis Fed Presents: Does the Number Matter? On Governments and Regional Economic Growth

ST. LOUIS ― Across the country, metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) have multiple local government jurisdictions. For example, within the St. Louis MSA, the city of St. Louis is served by one government entity, while St. Louis County has more than 80 local governments.

What does this mean? Is there an “optimal” size of a local government? On Wednesday, Aug. 21, Regional Economist Charles Gascon will explain the numbers and how they matter. The presentation is part of the St. Louis Fed's evening discussion series called Dialogue with the Fed: Beyond Today's Financial Headlines. It is a free evening lecture series that is open to the public.

Following the presentation will be a panel with the following participants:

• Cletus Coughlin, senior vice president and chief of staff to the president at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis;
• Yvonne Sparks, director of Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) initiatives for the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis; and
• Terry Jones, professor emeritus at UMSL.

WHO:  Regional economist Charles Gascon will explore how regional economic growth might be impacted by the number of governments in a particular MSA.

WHEN: 6 p.m. Aug. 21

WHERE: Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

One Federal Reserve Bank Plaza

Broadway and Locust St.

St. Louis, Mo. 63102

Reporters are invited to attend and can contact Matuschka Briggs at Matuschka.L.Briggs@stls.frb.org. The presentation will be livestreamed beginning at 6:30 p.m. CT.