Re-interpreting re-municipalization: finding equilibrium

ABSTRACT

The remunicipalization literature posits that municipalities increasingly reject privatization in favor of in-house service delivery. A frequent interpretation is that remunicipalization therefore demonstrates a rejection of business-like service delivery in local public service delivery. We perform a systematic review of the literature on remunicipalization, to argue why this interpretation may be inaccurate. First, remunicipalization often involves corporatization, and these public corporations are very business-like. Second, cost savings are often at the root of remunicipalization rather than political ideology. We call for a more nuanced debate on remunicipalization in the literature.

KEYWORDS:

• Remunicipalization
• corporatization
• municipally owned corporations
• systematic review

JEL CLASSIFICATION:

• H70

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

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