We estimated the demand for local public spending for the Brazilian municipalities within a median voter's framework. Results are consistent with the theoretical background. Marginal congestion decreases with per capita expenditure. The indivisibilities that preclude the provision of certain services in small towns, concentrate their provision on larger cities. Hence, the higher expenditures of those big cities reflect not only a crowding cost but also the fact that these towns offer a wide range of services when compared to the small ones. Last, in country-regionplaceBrazil, contrary to the traditional results, the reduced congestion effect along the spending classes reflects the predominance of the scale elements measured by the population elasticities over the price effects.
