An analysis of size and managerial efficiency of northern New England towns in the production of rural road services is reported. A stochastic cost frontier was used as the normative efficiency reference set. Empirical results provide evidence of economies of size in the production of road...

Choices in production and contracting arrangements for a wide range of services were studied using data from approximately 1,000 small, mostly rural municipalities from Illinois, New Hampshire and Wisconsin. Results suggest the use of both for-profit contractors and cooperative agreements with...

The provision of municipal services by private contractors and cooperative arrangements has become increasingly prevalent in the US. Building on previous studies in Illinois and Wisconsin we attempt to model the municipal decision of how local governments provide residents with town services. In...