Municipal population size and the benefits of inter-municipal cooperation: panel data evidence from Japan

Baba, Hisao; Asami, Yasushi

doi:10.1080/03003930.2019.1624257

Cited by 16 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 46 publications

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“…In response to these findings, one measure would be to establish an inter-municipal cooperation to internalise benefit spillover (Fr ere et al, 2014). This organisation would mitigate the spatial heterogenous effect and enable participating municipalities to enjoy economies of scale (Baba and Asami, 2020). Another possibility is to consider the balance of public expenses between central and local governments.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Ashworth et al (2005) argued that income level has a positive effect on public expenditures, as exemplified in Flemish municipalities. The ratio of the daytime population to the municipal population is also an important factor, not only for indicating the intensity of economic activities' aggregation but also for controlling spillover from a high degree of social welfare and consumption in the city (Baba and Asami, 2020). Moreover, industrial structure should be related to the extent of subsidies to industries, and variation in the industrial proportion can reveal differences in local expenditure (Seaton, 2010).…”

Section: Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

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Cost-efficient factors in local public spending: Detecting relationships between local environments, population size and urban area category

Baba

Asami

2021

Environment and Planning B: Urban Analytics and City Science

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This study examines regional differences in local environment factors to better understand the sustainability of local governments indexed by per capita public spending. Under the condition of heterogeneous population size, we examine how factor characteristics differ depending on the spatial context represented by the urban area category. By employing a Cobb–Douglas cost function with congestion effects on public service provision, the estimated factors enable us to articulate major factors and differences in cost-efficiency between urban area categories. We found that statistical significance and even the signatures of local environment factors differ depending on the urban employment area category. Regarding factors such as the ratios of employees in secondary and tertiary industries, these did not tend to be statistically significant in small-sized urban areas, while small-sized cities in large-sized urban areas were likely to gain confidence intervals. Moreover, we did not observe any statistical significance for the ratio of elderly people due to the balance of spending between national and local governments. These findings could contribute to sustainable management of cities in the advent of population decline.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

Cost-efficient factors in local public spending: Detecting relationships between local environments, population size and urban area category

Baba

Asami

2021

Environment and Planning B: Urban Analytics and City Science

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“…According to Klok et al (2018), trust is related to benefits such as improved service quality and municipal and regional capacity. However, Baba and Asami (2020), show that the expenditure share of IMC reduces total expenditures. Nonetheless, no research has been conducted to determine whether officials' perceptions of these horizontal variables are that they improve fiscal efficiency.…”

Section: Horizontal and Vertical Relations To Achieve Benefitsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Based on Feiock's research (Feiock, 2004, 2007, 2009, 2013; Feiock et al, 2017), which revealed relationships among key variables of ICA, other studies have been conducted in various areas, including economic development (Chen et al, 2016; Hawkins & Andrew, 2010; Lee et al, 2012; Park & Feiock, 2006; Percoco, 2016), the environmental arena (Gerber et al, 2013; Yi et al, 2018), and emergency policies (Wilson, et al 2020). Benefits of IMC are likely to be captured in the capital‐intensive service areas of firefighting and sanitation, which require the collaboration of small municipalities that have difficulty making large capital investments (Baba & Asami, 2020).…”

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confidence: 99%

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

Noda

2022

Public Administration Review

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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.

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“…Positive effects from IMC have also been identified in the wastewater sector [ 9 ], especially for small municipalities that can use IMC to overcome municipal fragmentation [ 10 ]. In addition to the commonly examined MSWM, positive effects from IMC on reducing municipal spending on public health and fire protection were shown in Japan [ 11 ], and similar positive effects occurred also in Brazil with spending on culture, housing, social assistance, and again health care [ 12 ]. Within the aforementioned papers, however, in most cases the analysis of IMC benefits was limited to a rather short period (often a few years or even just a single year), making the results partially questionable regarding the long-term sustainability of the observed benefits.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Long-Term Benefits of Intermunicipal Cooperation for Small Municipalities in Waste Management Provision

Struk,

Bakoš

2021

IJERPH

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Intermunicipal cooperation offers an interesting alternative in cases when municipalities are too small to individually provide public services at an efficient cost level but are reluctant to form a municipal amalgamation in order to benefit from economies of scale. Forming a body consisting of multiple municipalities with a specific focus provides a way to reduce costs on service provision while maintaining municipal sovereignty in other areas. In our paper, we quantify the cost benefits of utilizing intermunicipal cooperation in the field of municipal solid waste management. We examine this using data from a 10-year period from municipalities in the South Moravian Region in the Czech Republic, where high municipal fragmentation results in many dominantly small municipalities that often are not able to provide public services at reasonable costs. This analysis contributes to the literature by conducting a long-term study of the effects of intermunicipal cooperation on public service provision costs. Our results suggest that municipalities participating in intermunicipal cooperation focused on waste management experienced annual cost savings of approximately 13.5% for provision of this service throughout the examined period of 2010–2019 when compared to municipalities that did not cooperate. These long-term results show how beneficial intermunicipal cooperation can be in reducing service costs. In addition to the direct financial benefits, municipal representatives stated that intermunicipal cooperation often brings other qualitative and non-financial benefits such as better service quality, the possibility to share infrastructure, and relief from administrative and managerial burdens through the utilization of professional management, which was especially appreciated by the smallest municipalities with limited administrative staff.

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Municipal population size and the benefits of inter-municipal cooperation: panel data evidence from Japan

Cited by 16 publications

References 46 publications

Cost-efficient factors in local public spending: Detecting relationships between local environments, population size and urban area category

Cost-efficient factors in local public spending: Detecting relationships between local environments, population size and urban area category

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

Long-Term Benefits of Intermunicipal Cooperation for Small Municipalities in Waste Management Provision

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