Intermunicipal cooperation, integration forms, and vertical and horizontal effects in Japan

Abstract

This article identifies the effects of intergovernmental relations, particularly vertical relations between municipalities and higher levels of government where Institutional Collective Action has traditionally been under‐discussed, on types of collaborative benefits and different integration forms. The analysis was conducted using data from municipalities on the capital‐intensive service of waste management. The findings reveal that favorable horizontal relationships between municipalities enhance their capacity to solve both municipal and regional issues. The study also found that a high level of benefits emerged in contracted services when the horizontal relationship was highly favorable. In addition, vertical relationships with higher‐level governments contributed to improving fiscal efficiency, with greater perceived benefits of collaboration in the case of special district governments. The results suggest that while autonomous horizontal collaboration increases municipal capacity to solve issues, establishing collaborative relations with organizations from outside the municipality has the potential to generate an efficient integration system.

Influence of external authorities on collaborative frictions

“…Mismatched policies or delayed action by one partner can seriously affect the others' collaborative actions and motives. Collaboration risk rises due to higher transaction costs in information flow and coordinated activities caused by structural variations in different decision designs (Bel et al, 2021; Noda, 2023; Wang et al, 2016).…”

Confronting Uncertainty and Change: Challengers or Champions?

“…They find evidence of moderate rises in agency reputation in the media as a result of increased collaboration with the FDA; these persist significantly for 2 years beyond the end of the collaboration but decline to null after 4 years. Noda (2023) provides a distinctly intergovernmental flavor to this issue. Examining municipal waste management data from Japan, Noda reveals that favorable horizontal relationships between municipalities enhance their capacity to solve both municipal and regional issues.…”

Intergovernmental cooperation and joint purchasing agreements: Do governments free‐ride?

“…Governments often co‐produce goods and services instead of producing them in‐house or buying them from market suppliers (Kwon & Feiock, 2010; Noda, 2022). According to the conventional wisdom in the literature on production mechanisms, governments choose such cooperative arrangements when they believe they outperform other solutions; for instance, by reducing costs and/or improving quality (Bel & Warner, 2016; Hefetz & Warner, 2012).…”

“…Intergovernmental cooperation is an increasingly widespread policy that has the potential to improve government performance (Bel & Sebő, 2021; Kwon & Feiock, 2010; Lee & Hung, 2021; Noda, 2022). For instance, a group of governments pooling demand and effort to co‐produce back‐office functions, waste collection, fire services, or another common activity may attain economies of scale, process, and information beyond what they can individually, thereby cutting costs and boosting quality.…”