ABSTRACT

Cooperation in the delivery of public services is generally framed as desirable, but it is often hindered by serious collective action problems. The article compares inter-municipal cooperation in seven countries with different institutional settings. It investigates the rules of governance characterising these diverse institutional settings and assesses how they deal with the multiple principal problem. The authors find that in almost all cases, all participating municipalities are represented on the supervisory board of the cooperative entity. In contrast, in other less frequent case cooperation is frequently managed through a different tier of local government, thus circumventing the multiple principal problem affecting inter-municipal arrangements in the other countries.

摘要

提供公共服务方面的合作通常被认为是可取的，但它常常受到严重的集体行动问题的阻碍。文章比较了具有不同制度设置的七个国家的城市间合作。它调查了表征这些不同制度设置的治理规则，并评估了它们如何处理多重主体问题。作者发现，在几乎所有情况下，所有参与的市政当局都在合作实体的监事会中有代表。相比之下，在其他不太常见的情况下，合作通常通过不同层级的地方政府进行管理，从而避免了影响其他国家城市间安排的多重主体问题。