Just like any other employer, the municipalities can engage participants in active labor market programs in their activities. Does this possibility affect the output of municipal services? In order to answer this question a measure for output of locally provided schooling is created using factor...

The objective of this study is to analyse the technical or productive efficiency of the refuse collection services in 75 municipalities located in the Spanish region of Catalonia. The analysis has been carried out using various techniques. Firstly we have calculated a deterministic parametric...

In this paper we propose an original model of competition for effective political power between majority and opposition coalitions. The model indicates that the electoral margin of the majority and the fragmentation of both coalitions are key variables that determine their effective political...

The Romanian healthcare system can be characterized by chronic under financing, leading to poor services towards the patients, corruption and high debts of the public institutions towards their suppliers. In order to cope with the situation, the Romanian state approved in 2010 the emergency...

This article contributes to the small literature on the relationship between the range of local public services and population size. Using new data on French local jurisdictions, we test the hypothesis that larger jurisdictions provide a broader range of public goods (the so-called ?zoo effect?,...

Municipal ownership of companies in Italy is a common phenomenon that underlines the attitude of local bodies towards the supply of particular local services, frequently with a correlation of public and private interests. This article addresses key features of the companies involved. The focus...