M. Schoute

Is there still collusion in the Dutch waste collection market

ABSTRACT Concentration indexes based on regional markets show that the Dutch market for refuse collection is highly concentrated in 2002 and 2010. Similar to earlier work in 2007, the results indicate some evidence that high concentration increases costs and therefore (partly) offsets the advantage of contracting out. In 2002, results with respect to concentration are somewhat less robust. In 2010, the cost-advantage effect of private provision becomes smaller. However, for this year, we have a stronger indication that the cost advantage of private provision depends negatively on regional concentration measured by the Hirschman–Herfindahl Index.

Stakeholders’ information needs, cost system design, and cost system effectiveness in Dutch local government

This study examines the relationships between stakeholders’ information needs, cost system design, and cost system effectiveness in local government, using a dataset of survey responses from 71 Dutch municipalities. Three cost system design characteristics are examined: the (a) complexity and (b) inclusiveness of cost systems, and their (c) understandability for non-financial internal users. These characteristics are shown to be only partly related to each other, and to differ in the extent to which they are related to the information needs of internal and external stakeholders, as well as to three cost system effectiveness characteristics.

Municipalities’ Choices of Service Delivery Modes: The Influence of Service, Political, Governance, and Financial Characteristics

ABSTRACT This study investigates the influence of service, political, governance, and financial characteristics on municipalities’ choices of four service delivery modes (in-house, inter-municipal cooperation, municipality-owned firm, and private firm) in the Dutch local government setting. The results show that as a service involves more asset specificity and more measurement difficulty, the likelihood that municipalities contract this service out is lower. Also, although some differences in preferences are found between boards of aldermen and municipal councils, for both political bodies a more right-wing political orientation is shown to be positively related to privatization of services. Furthermore, contracting out is also shown to be related to the governance model of municipalities, as services of municipalities that (in general) put relatively less emphasis on input, process, and output performance indicators, and more on outcome performance indicators, are more likely to be privatized. Finally, the results also show that services of municipalities that have a better financial position are less likely to be contracted out to a private firm.

The relationship between purposes of budget use and budgetary slack

This chapter examines the relationship between purposes of budget use and budgetary slack, and the extent to which this relationship is mediated by two (potentially) slack-reducing mechanisms, budget participation and budget emphasis. In a sample of survey responses from 44 Dutch listed firms, intensity of budget use is negatively related to budgetary slack, and this relationship is partially mediated by both budget participation and budget emphasis. Furthermore, three purposes of budget use are identified: budget usage for (a) planning and communication purposes, (b) coordination and allocation purposes, and (c) evaluation and rewarding purposes. The direct effect of purposes of budget use on budgetary slack seems especially due to budget usage for planning and communication purposes, which is also the case for the mediating effect via budget emphasis, whereas the mediating effect via budget participation seems especially due to budget usage for coordination and allocation purposes. Exploratory analyses do not show similar relationships with purposeful slack, that is, with slack that was purposefully allowed in the business units’ budgets by the firms’ top management.

The effects of market concentration on costs of local public services: empirical evidence from Dutch waste collection

ABSTRACT Different concentration indexes are calculated for the Dutch waste collection market and all show that this market was highly concentrated in 2002, 2006, 2010 and 2014. The estimation results in 2002 show that private collection is cheaper but high concentration increases costs of private collection and therefore (partly) offsets the advantage of contracting out. In 2006, the savings gained from privatisation and also the effect of concentration disappear, probably due to the introduction of a VAT-compensation fund. In 2010, for an area with a radius of 30 km, high concentration increases costs, but for larger areas, this effect mostly disappears. For 2014, in most estimations, this concentration effect disappears. If we include fixed effects for a panel, the cost advantage of inter-municipal cooperation is larger than that of private production and concentration effects also disappear. Overall, these estimation results are rather independent of the concentration indexes used, if we investigate several indexes as an alternative for the Herfindahl–Hirschman index.

Changes in cost system design and intensity of use in times of crisis: Evidence from Dutch local government

Originality/value: Whereas previous large-scale research tends to focus on how the level of cost system design and/or intensity of use characteristics is related to the level of contextual factors, this study focuses on how changes in cost system design and intensity of use characteristics are related to changes in contextual factors. Also distinctive is that this study focuses on local government organizations experiencing a fiscal crisis.