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Local council members’ view on inter-municipal cooperation: Does office-related self interest matter?

Author

Listed:
  • Christian Bergholz

    (University of Kassel)

  • Ivo Bischoff

    (University of Kassel)

Abstract

We analyze data from a survey among local council members in 59 German municipali-ties. We ask council members whether their home municipality should cooperate with neigh-boring municipalities in the provision of public services like childcare or road maintenance. Their answers are clearly driven by office-related self-interest. Council members who have more political power and thus have more power to lose if their home municipality cooperates are more likely oppose inter-municipal cooperation. This interpretation receives further backing by the fact that delegates’ support for inter-municipal cooperation increases in the population size of their home municipality but decreases in the size of its neighbors.

Suggested Citation

  • Christian Bergholz & Ivo Bischoff, 2016. "Local council members’ view on inter-municipal cooperation: Does office-related self interest matter?," MAGKS Papers on Economics 201647, Philipps-Universität Marburg, Faculty of Business Administration and Economics, Department of Economics (Volkswirtschaftliche Abteilung).
    • Handle: RePEc:mar:magkse:201647
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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. 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.
    3. 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.
    4. Clémence Tricaud, 2021. "Better Alone? Evidence on the Costs of Intermunicipal Cooperation," Post-Print halshs-03243307, HAL.
    5. repec:hal:journl:hal-03380333 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. 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.
    7. 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.
    8. 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).
    9. Giampaolo Arachi & Debora Assisi & Berardino Cesi & Michele G. Giuranno & Felice Russo, 2022. "Inter-municipal Cooperation in Public Procurement," CEIS Research Paper 548, Tor Vergata University, CEIS, revised 19 Dec 2022.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    inter-municipal cooperation; politicians; survey; Germany; public choice;
    All these keywords.

    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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