Outsourcing through intermunicipal co-operation: Waste collection and treatment services in Brazil

ABSTRACT

An important empirical question centres on whether intermunicipal co-operation between local governments can reduce service provision costs and increase revenue. This paper reports on an investigation into the impact of intermunicipal co-operation on waste collection and treatment in the institutional context of southeast Brazilian local government. Intermunicipal co-operation resulted in local governments improving their negotiation and monitoring skills, increasing their revenue-generating service area and enhancing their financial sustainability.

IMPACT

This paper makes a timely contribution to the ongoing political and administrative debate about municipal public service provision. In Brazilian local government, public policy-makers have argued that a relationship exists between the revenue-generating size covered by service provision and financial sustainability in local government. This paper has lessons for practice showing that intermunicipal co-operation through consortia improves financial sustainability.

KEYWORDS:

• Brazil
• intermunicipal co-operation
• network governance theory
• outsourcing
• public service costs

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).