IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/bdi/opques/qef_826_23.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Public procurement centralization and energy expenditures: the case of Italian municipalities

Author

Listed:
  • Agnese Bafundi

    (Bank of Italy)

  • Antonio Sparacino

    (Bank of Italy)

Abstract

This paper analyses the relationship between the procurement methods adopted by Italian municipalities for the purchase of electricity and gas and the cost per capita incurred for these supplies. It empirically evaluates the effect of centralized purchasing for these expenditure categories. Using a unique dataset including payments made by Italian municipalities between 2019 and 2022, recorded on the Siope+ platform, we find that purchasing through Consip or regional procurement centres is associated with cost savings compared with direct procurement. Our analysis confirms the effectiveness of centralized procurement in the context of energy expenditures and highlights the potential efficiency gains associated with the ongoing increase in the rate of adoption of such systems.

Suggested Citation

  • Agnese Bafundi & Antonio Sparacino, 2023. "Public procurement centralization and energy expenditures: the case of Italian municipalities," Questioni di Economia e Finanza (Occasional Papers) 826, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
    • Handle: RePEc:bdi:opques:qef_826_23
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.bancaditalia.it/pubblicazioni/qef/2023-0826/QEF_826_23.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Decarolis, Francesco, 2018. "Procurement Centralization in the EU: the Case of Italy," CEPR Discussion Papers 12567, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    2. Olga Chiappinelli, 2020. "Decentralization And Public Procurement Performance: New Evidence From Italy," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 58(2), pages 856-880, April.
    3. Oriana Bandiera & Andrea Prat & Tommaso Valletti, 2009. "Active and Passive Waste in Government Spending: Evidence from a Policy Experiment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 99(4), pages 1278-1308, September.
    4. Gian Luigi Albano & Marco Sparro, 2010. "Flexible Strategies for Centralized Public Procurement," Review of Economics and Institutions, Università di Perugia, vol. 1(2).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Clark, Robert & Coviello, Decio & de Leverano, Adriano, 2021. "Centralized procurement and delivery times: Evidence from a natural experiment in Italy," ZEW Discussion Papers 21-063, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    2. Clarissa Lotti & Giancarlo Spagnolo, 2022. "Indirect Savings from Public Procurement Centralization," CEIS Research Paper 532, Tor Vergata University, CEIS, revised 01 Feb 2022.
    3. 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.
    4. Audinga Baltrunaite & Tommaso Orlando & Gabriele Rovigatti, 2021. "The implementation of public works in Italy: institutional features and regional characteristics," Questioni di Economia e Finanza (Occasional Papers) 659, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
    5. Leonardo M. Giuffrida & Gabriele Rovigatti, 2022. "Supplier selection and contract enforcement: Evidence from performance bonding," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(4), pages 980-1019, November.
    6. Decarolis, Francesco, 2018. "Procurement Centralization in the EU: the Case of Italy," CEPR Discussion Papers 12567, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    7. de Leverano, Adriano & Baulia, Susmita, 2023. "A new indicator to implement effective spending review policies in the public procurement for standardized goods," ZEW Discussion Papers 23-063, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    8. A. Baltrunaite & T. Orlando & G. Rovigatti, 2024. "The Making of Public Works in Italy: Institutional Features and Regional Characteristics," Italian Economic Journal: A Continuation of Rivista Italiana degli Economisti and Giornale degli Economisti, Springer;Società Italiana degli Economisti (Italian Economic Association), vol. 10(3), pages 1195-1232, November.
    9. De Leverano, Adriano & Coviello, Decio & Clark, Robert, 2023. "Centralized Procurement and Delivery Times: Evidence from a Natural Experiment in Italy," VfS Annual Conference 2023 (Regensburg): Growth and the "sociale Frage" 277589, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    10. Massimiliano Ferraresi & Gianluca Gucciardi & Leonzio Rizzo, 2017. "Does purchase centralization reduce public expenditure? Evidence from the Italian healthcare system," Working papers 66, Società Italiana di Economia Pubblica.
    11. Francesco Decarolis & Raymond Fisman & Paolo Pinotti & Silvia Vannutelli, 2019. "Rules, Discretion, and Corruption in Procurement: Evidence from Italian Government Contracting," Boston University - Department of Economics - The Institute for Economic Development Working Papers Series dp-344, Boston University - Department of Economics.
    12. Stephan Litschig, 2008. "Financing local development: Quasi-experimental evidence from municipalities in Brazil, 1980-1991," Economics Working Papers 1142, Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, revised Jun 2012.
    13. Matilde Cappelletti & Leonardo M. Giuffrida, 2024. "Targeted Bidders in Government Tenders," CESifo Working Paper Series 11142, CESifo.
    14. Isabella Giorgetti & Matteo Picchio, 2021. "One billion euro programme for early childcare services in Italy," Metroeconomica, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 72(3), pages 460-492, July.
    15. Butler, Jeffrey V. & Carbone, Enrica & Conzo, Pierluigi & Spagnolo, Giancarlo, 2020. "Past performance and entry in procurement: An experimental investigation," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 173(C), pages 179-195.
    16. Erica Bosio & Simeon Djankov & Edward Glaeser & Andrei Shleifer, 2022. "Public Procurement in Law and Practice," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 112(4), pages 1091-1117, April.
    17. Jian Chu & Raymond Fisman & Songtao Tan & Yongxiang Wang, 2021. "Hometown Ties and the Quality of Government Monitoring: Evidence from Rotation of Chinese Auditors," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 13(3), pages 176-201, July.
    18. Ferraz, Claudio & Finan, Frederico S., 2007. "Electoral Accountability and Corruption in Local Governments: Evidence from Audit Reports," IZA Discussion Papers 2843, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    19. Dina Pomeranz & José Vila-Belda, 2019. "Taking State-Capacity Research to the Field: Insights from Collaborations with Tax Authorities," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 11(1), pages 755-781, August.
    20. Blumenstock, Joshua & Callen, Michael & Faikina, Anastasiia & Fiorin, Stefano & Ghani, Tarek, 2023. "Strengthening Fragile States: Evidence from Mobile Salary Payments in Afghanistan," CEPR Discussion Papers 18254, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    centralization; procurement; energy expenses; local public finance;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H57 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Procurement
    • H76 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - Other Expenditure Categories
    • K23 - Law and Economics - - Regulation and Business Law - - - Regulated Industries and Administrative Law

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bdi:opques:qef_826_23. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/bdigvit.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.