The Korea Local Administration Review

 This paper aims to objectively evaluate the effects of four cities-counties consolidation taken place in Jeju province on 1 July 2006. As it is three years now since the local government restructuring took place, it will be meaningful to attempt to evaluate whether it has had the economic, administrative and regional effects of city-county consolidation as expected before the consolidation efforts were made. In doing so, this study selects four research questions regarding the consolidation effects. The analysis results show that the consolidation effort has made a significant economic savings, it has not contributed to improving residents’ accessibility to local government offices mainly due to the maintenance of administrative tier, it has slightly aggravated the regional inequality problem between Eup, Myun and Dong within Jeju province, and it has elevated the residents’ satisfaction level of service provision to a certain extent. Although, it is difficult to assess the consolidation effects qualitatively and quantitatively, this paper suggests that in order for the city-county consolidation to be taken effect, it is essential for the administrative tier to be abolished.