Should councils collaborate? Evaluating shared administration and tax services in English local government. Issue 1 (2nd January 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Dixon, Ruth; Elston, Thomas
• Is Part Of: Public money & management. Volume 39:Issue 1(2019)
• Page Start: 26
• Page End: 36
• Publication Date: 2019-01-02
• Subjects: Collaboration -- efficiency -- local government -- shared services -- tax administration; Finance, Public -- Great Britain -- Periodicals; Great Britain -- Economic policy -- 1945-1964 -- Periodicals; 336.005
• DOI: 10.1080/09540962.2019.1537704
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0954-0962

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Decentralized public organizations have many advantages, but can be inefficient due to suboptimal organizational size and duplication of activities. Selective inter-organizational collaboration may produce economies of scale without undoing the benefits of decentralization, assuming that co-ordination and re-organization costs are low. The authors tested this popular reform logic using data from all English councils, focusing on shared administration and tax collection. There were no significant benefits from either kind of collaboration.