Phoenix and neighboring municipalities, like many in the South and West, pursued a growth strategy based on annexation in the decades after World War II. This paper explores the link between annexation and competition for tax revenues.
Geography
Link
http://econpapers.repec.org/scripts/redir.pl?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.umass.edu%2Feconomics%2Fpublications%2F2006-01.pdf;h=repec:ums:papers:2006-01