Using a novel dataset on the diffusion of public eServices at the city level in EU 15, this paper contributes to extant empirical literature in three ways. First, it extends the coverage of public eServices beyond eGovernment, investigating four service categories: Infomobility, eProcurement, eGovernment and eHealth. Second, it provides information for both a cross-country and cross-municipality comparison. Third, on the methodological side, it also extends the literature on composite indicators at a municipal level. Cities exhibiting the highest diffusion of public eServices are found to be medium-large, highly endowed with well-educated human capital, and characterised by a lively industrial atmosphere favoured by a reasonable number and variety of production and service activities. The relative performance of the European cities helps identify plausible directions to be taken for policies aimed at favouring the diffusion of public service innovation in Europe.

本文使用关于欧盟15国城市一级公共电子服务传播的新颖数据集，通过三种方式为现存的经验文献做出了贡献。首先，它将公共电子服务的覆盖范围扩展到电子政务之外，调查了四个服务类别：信息移动性，电子采购，电子政务和电子健康。其次，它为跨国和跨城市比较提供了信息。第三，在方法论方面，它还扩展了有关市政一级综合指标的文献。发现公共电子服务普及率最高的城市是中型，具有高度受过良好教育的人力资本，其特点是活跃的工业氛围，并有合理数量和种类的生产和服务活动。