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"Disentangling the separate and combined effects of privatization and cooperation on local government service delivery"

Author

Listed:
  • Germà Bel

    (Department of Econometrics, Statistics and Applied Economics. Universitat of Barcelona. John Keynes, 1-11, 08034 Barcelona, Spain.)

  • Thomas Elston

    (Blavatnik School of Government. University of Oxford. Radcliffe Observatory Quarter. Woodstock Road. Oxford. OX2 6GG. United Kingdom.)

Abstract

Inter-municipal cooperation is often regarded as an alternative to privatizing local public services. But cooperation and privatization can also be combined into a composite reform package, where several municipalities jointly issue contracts relating to multiple jurisdictions. Evaluating these ‘hybrid’ reforms rests on disentangling the separate and combined effects of cooperation and privatization. This we undertake for the case of solid waste collection in the Spanish region of Catalonia, using environmental protection as our focal performance metric. Drawing on two waves of data (for 2000 and 2019) for a sample of 186 municipalities that mix public and private with cooperative and autonomous service delivery, we show that superior performance among reformed municipalities is initially confined to those cooperations involving public production. But latterly, any form of cooperation, using public or private production, resulted in significant gains. This reinforces the need for evaluators to isolate the (changing) ‘active ingredient’ in hybrid reforms.

Suggested Citation

  • Germà Bel & Thomas Elston, 2023. ""Disentangling the separate and combined effects of privatization and cooperation on local government service delivery"," IREA Working Papers 202311, University of Barcelona, Research Institute of Applied Economics, revised Oct 2023.
    • Handle: RePEc:ira:wpaper:202311
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    8. Germà Bel & Mildred E. Warner, 2016. "Factors explaining inter-municipal cooperation in service delivery: a meta-regression analysis," Journal of Economic Policy Reform, Taylor and Francis Journals, vol. 19(2), pages 91-115, April.
    9. Austin M. Aldag & Mildred Warner, 2018. "Cooperation, not cost savings: explaining duration of shared service agreements," Local Government Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 44(3), pages 350-370, May.
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    13. Le Grand, Julian, 2003. "Motivation, Agency, and Public Policy: Of Knights and Knaves, Pawns and Queens," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199266999.
    14. Germà Bel & Alejandro Belerdas-Castro, 2022. "Provision and production reform of urban fire services: privatization, cooperation and costs," Public Management Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(9), pages 1331-1354, September.
    15. Thomas Niaounakis & Jos Blank, 2017. "Inter-municipal cooperation, economies of scale and cost efficiency: an application of stochastic frontier analysis to Dutch municipal tax departments," Local Government Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 43(4), pages 533-554, July.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Collaboration; Privatization; Inter-municipal cooperation; Shared services local government. JEL classification: L33; H44; H76; H83;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L33 - Industrial Organization - - Nonprofit Organizations and Public Enterprise - - - Comparison of Public and Private Enterprise and Nonprofit Institutions; Privatization; Contracting Out
    • H44 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods - - - Publicly Provided Goods: Mixed Markets
    • H76 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - Other Expenditure Categories
    • H83 - Public Economics - - Miscellaneous Issues - - - Public Administration

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