City Limits?: The Impact of Annexation on the Frequency of Municipal Incorporation in North Carolina

Studies by urban scholars have revealed that new cities (those incorporated in the second half of the 20^th century) are often created to provide public services, have social and/or economic exclusionary ambitions, or are developed as tax havens for the wealthy. Likewise, many of these same studies also suggest that cities incorporate to protect themselves from the threat of annexation. However, very little quantitative research has been conducted on understanding the relationship between annexation and municipal incorporation. In fact, Feiock and Carr (2001) state that scholars have tended to "intellectually divorce" one form of local government boundary change from another. One study that has attempted to examine this relationship was Rigos and Spindler's (1991) study. Their state level analysis of municipal incorporation determined that "the fear of impending annexation is one of the most powerful stimuli for the creation of new cities" (Rigos and Spindler 1991, p 80). This study will build upon their previous work by examining the relationship between annexation and municipal incorporation in North Carolina at the county level.