Urban Studies and Planning Commons^™

Explaining Local Government Cooperation On Public Works: Evidence From Michigan, Kelly Leroux, Jered B. Carr

Working Group on Interlocal Services Cooperation

In recent years, analysts have begun to study cooperation on public services among local governments. These studies have often concluded that services with scale economies are likely candidates for shared service delivery. This article contributes to the emerging literature on this topic by examining interlocal service arrangements for ten public works services in Michigan. Despite the fact that public works exhibit substantial scale economies, many local governments do not cooperate on these services. Empirical studies of local government contracting suggest four groups of factors that may help explain why local governments opt to collaborate on public services: local economic factors, …