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Does It Take More Than One Village? The Effect of Inter-Municipal Cooperation on Waste Separation

Author

Listed:
  • Germà Bel

    (GiM-IREA, Universitat de Barcelona, Spain.)

  • Joël Bühler

    (GiM-IREA, Universitat de Barcelona, Spain.)

Abstract

Municipalities increasingly cooperate with one another to improve their public services. In this study, we estimate the causal effect of Inter-Municipal Cooperation (IMC) on the environmental performance of waste collection in Catalonia. Using a difference-in-differences framework, we find that municipalities moving into IMC decrease non-separated waste per capita and increase the share of waste separation. However, when taking into account potential selection into treatment, a causal effect is present only in a sub-period after a strong hike in the landfill tax, and particularly for municipalities switching after this tax hike. This points to IMC’s potential to use technical capability and economies of scale for a more pronounced and rapid reaction, enhancing the effectiveness of higher-level policy. In contrast, absent the landfill tax, IMC seems to have offered limited improvement in environmental performance, suggesting at most a secondary role for internalization of local environmental spillovers.

Suggested Citation

  • Germà Bel & Joël Bühler, 2025. "Does It Take More Than One Village? The Effect of Inter-Municipal Cooperation on Waste Separation," IREA Working Papers 202501, University of Barcelona, Research Institute of Applied Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:ira:wpaper:202501
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    File URL: http://www.ub.edu/irea/working_papers/2025/202501.pdf
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Inter-Municipal Cooperation; Waste Management; Recycling; Selection into Treatment; Difference-in-Differences. JEL classification: H41; H77; Q53.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H41 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods - - - Public Goods
    • H77 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - Intergovernmental Relations; Federalism

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