This study investigates the effects of the corporatization process – i.e., the transformation of a municipal firm into a limited liability company – on the production costs of local public services whose ownership is maintained by the local government. Theoretical analysis predicts that,...

In the paper we study the cost structure of a sample of Italian utility providing in combination gas, water and electricity. The estimates from a Composite cost function model (Pulley e Braunstein, 1992) highlight that costs are lower when multi-utility operate in high-density areas and when...

This study discusses the main problems in assessing overall spending efficiency of local governments and presents an application of non-parametric techniques (DEA) to the activities carried out by Italian municipalities. The analysis relies on a sample of 262 municipalities in the Province of...

In this paper we estimate cost efficiency and technological characteristics of public hospitals in Piedmont over the period from 2000 to 2004. During the Nineties, different regulatory reforms aiming at controlling health expenditure affected the Italian National Health Service, ranging from the...

The diffusion of Integrated Tariff Systems (ITS) in Local Public Transport (LPT), that started up in Europe in the mid 1960s, may be due to three main factors: a) the development of the cities and the increasing need of mobility from the collectivity; b) the inconvenience the users face due to...

Since the mid nineties the Italian Local Public Transport (Lpt) sector has been involved in a structural reform process, with the aim of increasing both productive efficiency and service effectiveness. To meet this purpose, the new regulatory framework shifts the financial responsibility from...

This paper analyses the effects of corporatization, mixed ownership and board composition on the behaviour and performance of a sample of 114 Italian local public utilities, for which information about 1,630 directors during 1994-2004 has been collected. Our main findings indicate that, while...

This paper contributes to the literature on firms' productivity and exporting decisions by analyzing the role played by organizational choice aspects. Rather than setting up a vertically integrated structure, manufacturers may act as sub-contractors in both domestic and foreign markets, and...