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Local council members’ view on intermunicipal cooperation: does office-related self-interest matter?

Author

Listed:
  • Christian Bergholz
  • Ivo Bischoff

Abstract

This paper analyzes data from a survey among local council members in 59 German municipalities. It asks them whether or not their home municipality should cooperate with neighbouring municipalities in the provision of public services such as childcare or road maintenance. Their answers are clearly driven by office-related self-interest. Delegates who have more political power and thus have more to lose if their home municipality cooperates are more likely to oppose intermunicipal cooperation. This interpretation receives further backing by the fact that delegates’ support for intermunicipal cooperation increases with the population size of their home municipality but decreases with the size of its neighbours.

Suggested Citation

  • Christian Bergholz & Ivo Bischoff, 2018. "Local council members’ view on intermunicipal cooperation: does office-related self-interest matter?," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 52(12), pages 1624-1635, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:regstd:v:52:y:2018:i:12:p:1624-1635
    DOI: 10.1080/00343404.2018.1428293
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    Cited by:

    1. Katarína Melichová & Lukáš Varecha, 2020. "Endogenous Political, Institutional, Cultural, and Geographic Determinants of Intermunicipal Cooperation—Evidence from Slovakia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-25, January.
    2. Ivo Bischoff & Eva Wolfschütz, 2021. "Inter-municipal cooperation in administrative tasks – the role of population dynamics and elections," Local Government Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 47(4), pages 568-592, July.
    3. Alessandro Sovera, 2025. "When Integration Backfires: Examining the Effects of Mandatory Inter-Municipal Cooperation on Local Housing Markets," Working Papers 40, Finnish Centre of Excellence in Tax Systems Research.
    4. Clémence Tricaud, 2019. "Better alone? Evidence on the costs of intermunicipal cooperation," Economics Working Paper from Condorcet Center for political Economy at CREM-CNRS 2019-12-ccr, Condorcet Center for political Economy.
    5. Juri Demuth & Hans W. Friederiszick & Steffen Reinhold, 2022. "Reverse Privatization as a Reaction to the Competitive Environment: Evidence from Solid Waste Collection in Germany," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 60(2), pages 217-261, March.
    6. repec:hal:journl:hal-03380333 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Germà Bel & Marianna Sebo, 2018. "“Does inter-municipal cooperation really reduce delivery costs? An empirical evaluation of the role of scale economies, transaction costs, and governance arrangements”," IREA Working Papers 201816, University of Barcelona, Research Institute of Applied Economics, revised Jul 2018.
    8. Jens Alm & Alexander Paulsson & Robert Jonsson, 2021. "Capacity in municipalities: Infrastructures, maintenance debts and ways of overcoming a run-to-failure mentality," Local Economy, London South Bank University, vol. 36(2), pages 81-97, March.
    9. Mehdi Guelmamen, 2024. "Organizational Pathways in Drinking Water Governance: A Literature Review," Working Papers of BETA 2024-48, Bureau d'Economie Théorique et Appliquée, UDS, Strasbourg.
    10. Banaszewska, Monika & Bischoff, Ivo & Bode, Eva & Chodakowska, Aneta, 2022. "Does inter-municipal cooperation help improve local economic performance? – Evidence from Poland," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    11. Giampaolo Arachi & Debora Assisi & Berardino Cesi & Michele G. Giuranno & Felice Russo, 2024. "Intermunicipal cooperation in public procurement," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 58(11), pages 2055-2073, November.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • H77 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - Intergovernmental Relations; Federalism
    • D72 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior

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