Do Inter-Municipal Cooperation Unions Differ in Their Policies Depending on Their Size? Evidence from Poland
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18778/0208-6018.356.03Keywords:
inter-municipal cooperation, local government, economies of scale and scope, spillovers, PolandAbstract
The literature on inter‑municipal cooperation (IMC) focusing on the characteristics of its members and factors driving a decision to start cooperating is abundant. Various studies indicate that small municipalities are particularly vulnerable to economies of scale and scope, hence they are more likely to start cooperating than bigger units. On the other hand, small municipalities face incentives to free‑ride on bigger local governments due to spillovers. However, it is unclear if there exists a nexus between the size of IMC entities (measured by population) and types of tasks performed jointly by their partners (often of a different number). This paper aims to fill the existing gap by testing whether a share of expenditures on one of the three categories of tasks (‘economies of scale and scope tasks,’ ‘spillover tasks’ and ‘multi tasks’) in total expenditures incurred jointly differs significantly depending on the size of an IMC entity. For that purpose, the Kruskal‑Wallis rank test was used. To pinpoint which specific medians are statistically different from the others in each year of analysis, Dunn’s multiple comparison test with the Bonferroni adjustment was performed. The research is based on Polish inter‑municipal unions (IMC‑unions) and their financial statements over the period 2003–2018 and covers 2,541 observations. The results show that the vast majority of statistically significant differences were observed in the share of expenditures on ‘economies of scale and scope tasks’ in total expenditures, suggesting that very small IMC‑unions spent more of their budget on these tasks than medium‑sized IMC‑unions and small IMC‑unions (over several years). No significant differences were noted in the share of ‘spillover’ expenditures. Significant differences in ‘multi’ expenditures occurred only in 2017 and 2018, indicating that small IMC‑unions spent more than very small IMC‑unions. These first results add to the existing literature by driving a conclusion that smaller IMC‑unions concentrate more on reducing per capita spending.
Downloads
References
Acock A.C. (2018), A Gentle Introduction to Stata Alan, Stata Press, College Station.
Google Scholar
Act of 8 March (1990), Act of 8 March 1990 on municipal self-government, Journal of Laws, No. 16, it. 95.
Google Scholar
Act of 2 April (1997), Constitution of the Republic of Poland of 2 April 1997, Journal of Laws, No. 78, it. 483.
Google Scholar
Allers M.A., Greef J.A. de (2018), Intermunicipal cooperation, public spending and service levels, “Local Government Studies”, Vol. 44, No. 1, pp. 127–150, https://doi.org/10.1080/03003930.2017.1380630
Google Scholar
Allers M.A., Ommeren B. van (2016), Intermunicipal cooperation, municipal amalgamation and the price of credit, “Local Government Studies”, Vol. 42, No. 5, pp. 3–22, https://doi.org/10.1080/03003930.2016.1171754
Google Scholar
Arjona R. (2021), The criticality of research and innovation for Europe’s future – a keynote speech at the INFER PUEB Workshop on New Economics: Innovation, Digitalization and Revolution, Chief Economist, DG Research and Innovation European Commission, Uniwersytet Ekonomiczny w Poznaniu, Poznań.
Google Scholar
Arntsen B., Torjesen D.O., Karlsen T.-I. (2021), Asymmetry in inter-municipal cooperation in health services – how does it affect service quality and autonomy?, “Social Science & Medicine”, Vol. 273, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2021.113744
Google Scholar
Bal-Domańska B., Sobczak E., Stańczyk E. (2020), A multivariate approach to the identification of initial smart specialisations of Polish voivodeships, “Equilibrium”, Vol. 15, No. 4, pp. 785–810, https://doi.org/10.24136/eq.2020.034
Google Scholar
Baskaran T., Lopes da Fonseca M. (2016), Electoral competition and endogenous political institutions: Quasi-experimental evidence from Germany, “Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization”, Vol. 122, pp. 43–61, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jebo.2015.11.012
Google Scholar
Bel G., Warner M.E. (2016), Factors explaining inter-municipal cooperation in service delivery: a meta-regression analysis, “Journal of Economic Policy Reform”, Vol. 7870, pp. 1–25, https://doi.org/10.1080/17487870.2015.1100084
Google Scholar
Bel G., Fageda X., Mur M. (2013), Why Do Municipalities Cooperate to Provide Local Public Services? An Empirical Analysis, “Local Government Studies”, Vol. 39, No. 3, pp. 435–454, https://doi.org/10.1080/03003930.2013.781024
Google Scholar
Bergholz C. (2018), Inter-municipal cooperation in the case of spillovers: evidence from Western German municipalities, “Local Government Studies”, Vol. 44, No. 1, pp. 22–43, https://doi.org/10.1080/03003930.2017.1403902
Google Scholar
Bischoff I., Wolfschütz E. (2020), Inter-municipal cooperation in administrative tasks – the role of population dynamics and elections, “Local Government Studies”, Vol. 47, No. 4, pp. 1–25, https://doi.org/10.1080/03003930.2020.1771307
Google Scholar
Blaeschke F. (2014), What drives small municipalities to cooperate? Evidence from Hessian municipalities, “MAGKS Joint Discussion Paper Series in Economics”, Vol. 14, pp. 1–48.
Google Scholar
Blaeschke F., Haug P. (2018), Does intermunicipal cooperation increase efficiency? A conditional metafrontier approach for the Hessian wastewater sector, “Local Government Studies”, Vol. 44, No. 1, pp. 151–171, https://doi.org/10.1080/03003930.2017.1395741
Google Scholar
Chen S.-Y., Feng Z., Yi X . (2017), A general introduction to adjustment for multiple comparisons, “Journal of Thoracic Disease”, Vol. 9, No. 6, pp. 1725–1729, https://doi.org/10.21037/jtd.2017.05.34
Google Scholar
Cotta J., Breque M., De Nul L., Petridis A. (2021), Industry 5.0: Towards a sustainable, human-centric and resilient European industry, https://doi.org/10.2777/308407
Google Scholar
Dinno A. (2015), Nonparametric pairwise multiple comparisons in independent groups using Dunn’s test, “Stata Journal”, Vol. 15, No. 1, pp. 292–300, https://www.stata-journal.com/article.html?article=st0381 (accessed: 11.02.2021).
Google Scholar
Dunn O.J. (1964), Multiple Comparisons Using Rank Sums, “Technometrics”, Vol. 6, No. 3, pp. 241–252, http://doi.org/10.1080/00401706.1964.10490181
Google Scholar
Feiock R.C., Steinacker A., Park H.J. (2018), Institutional Collective Action and Economic Development Joint Ventures, “Public Administration Review”, Vol. 69, No. 2, pp. 256–270, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-6210.2008.01972.x
Google Scholar
Hochberg Y. (1988), A sharper Bonferroni procedure for multiple tests of significance, “Biometrika”, Vol. 75, No. 4, pp. 800–802, https://doi.org/10.1093/biomet/75.4.800
Google Scholar
Hulst R., Montfort A. van (eds.) (2007), Inter-municipal Cooperation in Europe, Springer, Dordrecht, https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-5379-7
Google Scholar
Kołsut B. (2015), Zinstytucjonalizowane sieci współdziałania międzygminnego w Polsce, Bogucki Wydawnictwo Naukowe, Poznań.
Google Scholar
Kołsut B. (2016), Inter-Municipal Cooperation in Waste Management: The Case of Poland, “Quaestiones Geographicae”, Vol. 35, No. 2, pp. 91–104, http://doi.org/10.1515/quageo-2016-0018
Google Scholar
Kruskal W.H., Wallis W.A. (1952), Use of Ranks in One-Criterion Variance Analysis, “Journal of the American Statistical Association”, Vol. 47, No. 260, pp. 583–621, https://doi.org/10.1080/01621459.1952.10483441
Google Scholar
Kuc-Czarnecka M. (2020), COVID–19 and digital deprivation in Poland, “Oeconomia Copernicana”, Vol. 11, No. 3, pp. 415–431, https://doi.org/10.24136/OC.2020.017
Google Scholar
LeRoux K., Brandenburger P.W., Pandey S.K. (2010), Interlocal Service Cooperation in U.S. Cities A Social Network Explanation, “Public Administration Review”, Vol. 70, No. 2, pp. 268–278, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-6210.2010.02133.x
Google Scholar
Minister of Finance (2018), The regulation of July 18 2018 amending the ordinance on the detailed classification of income, expenses, revenues and expenses as well as funds from foreign sources, “Journal of Laws”, No. 1340.
Google Scholar
Ministry of the Interior and Administration (2020), The register of unions of local government units, https://www.gov.pl/web/mswia/zarejestruj-zmien-statut-lub-wyrejestruj-zwiazek-miedzygminny-zwiazek-powiatow-zwiazek-powiatowo-gminny (accessed: 21.12.2020).
Google Scholar
Niaounakis T., Blank J. (2017), Inter-municipal cooperation, economies of scale and cost efficiency: an application of stochastic frontier analysis to Dutch municipal tax departments, “Local Government Studies”, Vol. 43, No. 4, pp. 533–554, https://doi.org/10.1080/03003930.2017.1322958
Google Scholar
Oates W.E. (1999), Essay on Fiscal Federalism, “Journal of Economic Literature”, Vol. 37, No. 3, pp. 1120–1149, https://doi.org/10.1257/jel.37.3.1120
Google Scholar
Olson M., Zeckhauser R. (1966), An economic theory of alliances author, “The Review of Economics and Statistics”, Vol. 48, No. 3, pp. 266–279, https://doi.org/10.2307/1927082
Google Scholar
Ostrom V., Tiebout C., Warren R. (1961), The Organization of Government in Methopolitan Areas: A Theoretical Inquiry, “The American Political Science Review”, Vol. 55, No. 4, pp. 831–842.
Google Scholar
Razminiene K. (2019), Circular economy in clusters’ performance evaluation, “Equilibrium”, Vol. 14, No. 3, pp. 537–559, https://doi.org/10.24136/eq.2019.026
Google Scholar
Regulski J. (2003), Local government reform in Poland: An insider’s story, https://decentralization.gov.ua/pics/upload/57-81b7d00b5b7cc23737bfd1c4d96c4dbe.pdf (accessed: 24.02.2021).
Google Scholar
Royston P. (1995), Remark AS R94: A Remark on Algorithm AS 181: The W-test for Normality, “Journal of the Royal Statistical Society. Series C (Applied Statistics)”, Vol. 4, No. 4, pp. 547–551, https://doi.org/10.2307/2986146
Google Scholar
Saculinggan M., Balase E.A. (2013), Empirical Power Comparison of Goodness of Fit Tests for Normality in The Presence of Outliers, “Journal of Physics: Conference Series”, Vol. 435, No. 012041, pp. 1–11, https://doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/435/1/012041
Google Scholar
Schoute M., Gradus R., Budding T. (2020), Drivers of service delivery modes in Dutch local government: an analysis over time and across domains, “International Review of Administrative Sciences”, pp. 1–15, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/347073703_Drivers_of_service_delivery_modes_in_Dutch_local_government_an_analysis_over_time_and_across_domains (accessed: 24.02.2021).
Google Scholar
Shapiro A.S.S., Wilk M.B. (1965), An Analysis of Variance Test for Normality (Complete Samples), “Biometrika”, Vol. 52, No. 3, pp. 591–611, https://doi.org/10.2307/2333709
Google Scholar
StataCorp (2017), Stata 15 Base Reference Manual, Stata Press, College Station.
Google Scholar
StataCorp LLC (2017), Stata Statistical Software: Release 15. StataCorp LLC, Stata Press, College Station.
Google Scholar
Swianiewicz P., Teles F. (2018), Inter Municipal Cooperation In Europe. Institutions and Governance, Palgrave Macmillan, New York.
Google Scholar
Swianiewicz P., Gendźwiłł A., Kurkowska J., Lackowska M., Picej A. (2016), Współpraca międzygminna w Polsce. Związek z rozsądku, Wydawnictwo Naukowe Scholar, Warszawa.
Google Scholar
Tiebout C. (1956), A Pure Theory of Local Expenditures, “Journal of Political Economy”, Vol. 64, No. 5, pp. 416–424, https://doi.org/10.1086/257839
Google Scholar
Warner M.E. (2011), Competition or cooperation in urban service delivery?, “Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics”, Vol. 82, No. 4, pp. 421–435, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8292.2011.00450.x
Google Scholar
Wassenaar M., Groot T., Gradus R. (2016), Municipalities’ contracting out decisions: An empirical study on motives, “Local Government Studies”, Vol. 39, No. 3, pp. 414–434, https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315738659
Google Scholar
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
