Drivers of contracting back in local governments: analysing efficiency, opportunistic political cycles, political corruption and financial factors

Campos-Alba, Cristina María; Molina, Emilio; Pérez-López, Gemma; Gómez, J. L.

doi:10.1080/17487870.2019.1689359

Cited by 19 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 46 publications

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“…First, cost saving concerns are a crucial determinant that drives contracting back-in (e.g. Campos-Alba et al. , 2020; Hall et al.…”

Section: Antecedents Of Contracting Back-inmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…According to this logic, scholars argue that left wing governments will be more likely to reverse outsourced services because non-market values can be more easily guaranteed through public production. In the contracting back-in literature, scholars have paid attention to the effects of the dominant ideology of a government on contracting back-in decisions (Campos-Alba et al. , 2020; Gradus and Budding, 2020; Gradus et al.…”

Section: Antecedents Of Contracting Back-inmentioning

confidence: 99%

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What brings the state back in? An examination of contracting reversal

Hung

2022

IJPSM

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PurposeIn recent years, there is a steady increase of studies documenting the emergence of “contracting back-in” in many countries around the world, that is, governments bringing previously contracted services back in-house and once again relying on public employees to deliver these services. Through a survey of the academic discourse on contracting back-in, this manuscript describes the phenomenon of contracting back-in and discusses its implications for “bringing the state back in”.Design/methodology/approachThe manuscript conducts a systematic review of existing literature on contracting back-in with a focus on the scope and rationale of contracting back-in.FindingsThe existing literature demonstrates that contracting back-in is often as common as contracting out and can be found in a variety of countries and across different service areas. Existing studies also suggest that contracting back-in is driven by a mix of managerial, political, and environmental factors. The rise of contracting back-in could imply a revival of the administrative state in public governance and a more dynamic, potentially more complicated, system of public service delivery.Originality/valueThe manuscript contributes to the special issue on “bringing the state back in” through the lens of government contracting. It adds a number of implications to the discussion on the emergence of the “new” administrative state and strategies to reinvent it.

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“…First, cost saving concerns are a crucial determinant that drives contracting back-in (e.g. Campos-Alba et al. , 2020; Hall et al.…”

Section: Antecedents Of Contracting Back-inmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Antecedents Of Contracting Back-inmentioning

confidence: 99%

What brings the state back in? An examination of contracting reversal

Hung

2022

IJPSM

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“…Three categories of factors that influence the choice of mode of service provision are distinguished in the literature: economic efficiency, fiscal constraints, and political processes and ideological attitudes (Bel & Fageda, 2007, 2009, 2017. In addition, some studies also investigate the role of services' characteristics on the choice of service provision for a broad range of services (for instance Campos-Alba et al, 2021;Levin & Tadelis, 2010). Levin and Tadelis (2010) show that city managers see solid waste collection's characteristics generally as favorable for private provision.…”

Section: Related Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

Reverse Privatization as a Reaction to the Competitive Environment: Evidence from Solid Waste Collection in Germany

Demuth

Friederiszick

Reinhold³

2021

Rev Ind Organ

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After earlier waves of privatization, local governments have increasingly taken back control of local service provisions in some sectors and countries and instead started providing those services themselves (reverse privatization). Using a unique panel dataset on the mode of service provision for solid waste collection for German municipalities that cover the years 2003, 2009, and 2015, we investigate the motives for reverse privatization. Our results show that—in deciding whether to insource or not—municipalities react to the cost advantages of private suppliers as well as to the competitive environment and municipal activity: there is more switching to insourcing in concentrated markets and in markets with horizontally or vertically related public services. Local interest groups influence this decision as well.

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“…This provides partial support to the political transformation thesis, but the authors in this special issue present this more as a management of political interests, rather than a broader transformative process. Zafra et al (2019) study 141 Spanish municipalities from 2011-2016 and find authorities that contracted back public services were mainly influenced by the wish to achieve higher levels of efficiency, but also by the existence of opportunistic political behavior in a pre-electoral year, by the change from a conservative to a progressive government, and by political corruption detected in the previous year. Their paper is able to directly link the timing of the re-municipalization to measures of efficiency and politics and corruption.…”

Section: Contribution Of This Special Issuementioning

confidence: 99%

Re-municipalization of public services: trend or hype?

Clifton

Warner

Gradus³

et al. 2019

Journal of Economic Policy Reform

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Re-municipalization is part of a broader set of reverse privatization reforms. We argue the term re-municipalization lacks conceptual clarity, confusing municipal level reversals from national ones, new service delivery from reversals, and mixed market positions from full public control. This conceptual confusion makes measurement of re-municipalization difficult. While more case studies are being discovered, quantitative time series studies do not show remunicipalization is increasing. Much case study based research argues remunicipalization is politically transformative, but quantitative research generally finds re-municipalization to be part of a pragmatic market management process, a position confirmed by the papers in this special issue. Policy Highlights• Re-municipalization is as an important trend in public service delivery. • Re-municipalization is primarily a pragmatic process of market management. • Case studies show remunicipalization can be politically transformative.Since the 1980s, the scholarship analysing the ongoing reform of public services has overwhelmingly focused on the shift of these services to the private sector, that is, on their privatization. Attention, above all, has been paidin this by now vast body of literatureto the determinants (Clifton, Comín, and Díaz-

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Drivers of contracting back in local governments: analysing efficiency, opportunistic political cycles, political corruption and financial factors

Cited by 19 publications

References 46 publications

What brings the state back in? An examination of contracting reversal

What brings the state back in? An examination of contracting reversal

Reverse Privatization as a Reaction to the Competitive Environment: Evidence from Solid Waste Collection in Germany

Re-municipalization of public services: trend or hype?

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