Suchergebnisse

A joint venture agreement is one type of governance mechanism that can be adopted by local governments to address collective action problems. While much of the current research discusses the importance of regional cooperation, few studies explore the type of relations formed with institutional actors in the context of interjurisdictional agreements. The authors address this gap in the literature by investigating the association among the transaction costs of forming an economic development joint venture agreement and two types of relations formed by local governments: horizontal and vertical. The results of a survey of local officials in 12 large metropolitan areas indicate that, depending upon the extent to which coordination, division, or defection problems are perceived to make joint venture agreements difficult to establish, local governments have horizontal and vertical relations. The findings highlight challenges and opportunities for addressing collective action problems and facilitating regional cooperation for economic development.

The "rules of the game" embodied in municipal government institutions constrain as well as provide opportunities for local government officials to capture individual benefits related to policy action. Whether the projected benefits of cooperation are localized or community-wide are hypothesized to combine with the political incentives produced under different forms of government to influence the likelihood local officials will enter into an economic development joint venture with other local governments. Analysis pooling survey data from the same cities at two time points provides evidence that prior agreements influence future cooperative actions and that joint ventures are more likely when there are localized benefits combined with mayor—council government, or when broader benefits are pursued under manager—council form of government.

Service collaborations often must confront risks arising from problems of coordination, division, and defection. U.S. scholars have focused on understanding the efficacy of three general strategies to reducing these risks. First, the use of adaptive and restrictive contracts to reduce the risks from service characteristics has received a lot of attention. Second, scholars have studied how the use of different institutional arrangements reduces the risks of collaborative service provision. Third, attention has been devoted to understanding how the social networks of administrators and elected officials mitigate risk in sharing services. This article concludes with suggestions for future research on this topic.

Service collaborations often must confront risks arising from problems of coordination, division, and defection. U.S. scholars have focused on understanding the efficacy of three general strategies to reducing these risks. First, the use of adaptive and restrictive contracts to reduce the risks from service characteristics has received a lot of attention. Second, scholars have studied how the use of different institutional arrangements reduces the risks of collaborative service provision. Third, attention has been devoted to understanding how the social networks of administrators and elected officials mitigate risk in sharing services. This article concludes with suggestions for future research on this topic. Adapted from the source document.

Sustainable development has quickly become an important theme in local governments facing environmental challenges. Energy efficiency can be part of local efforts to sustain economic development while protecting the environment and natural resources. Based on a national database, this study examines U.S. city governments' strategies to finance energy efficiency. The result suggests that energy efficiency financing (EEF) has become part of local sustainability strategies. In the study, we offer an explanation for energy efficiency funding that emphasizes political behaviors of institutional players in budgetary decision making. We examine factors influencing adoption and progression of EEF. The results highlight the importance of explaining results of EEF to citizens. Technical expertise from professional organizations helps start EEF programs. A Democrat-leaning consistency is important to adopt EEF, but only in cities without substantial strategies promoting EEF. Cities with revenue declines are less likely to implement EEF.

"Natural disasters in recent years have brought the study of disaster resiliency to the forefront. The importance of community preparedness and sustainability has been underscored by such calamities as Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and the Japanese tsunami in 2011. Natural disasters will inevitably continue to occur, but by understanding the concept of resiliency as well as the factors that lead to it, communities can minimize their vulnerabilities and increase their resilience.? In this volume, editors Naim Kapucu, Christopher V. Hawkins, and Fernando I. Rivera gather an impressive array of scholars to provide a much needed re-think to the topic disaster resiliency. Previous research on the subject has mainly focused on case studies, but this book offers a more systematic and empirical assessment of resiliency, while at the same time delving into new areas of exploration, including vulnerabilities of mobile home parks, the importance of asset mapping, and the differences between rural and urban locations. Employing a variety of statistical techniques and applying these to disasters in the United States and worldwide, this book examines resiliency through comparative methods which examine public management and policy, community planning and development, and, on the individual level, the ways in which culture, socio-economic status, and social networks contribute to resiliency. The analyses drawn will lead to the development of strategies for community preparation, response, and recovery to natural disasters."--Publisher's website.

When confronting complex challenges, governments use basic bureaucratic design heuristics -- centralization and specialization. The complexity of environmental and climate issues has drawn recent attention to the ways in which fragmented authority influences, and often challenges, the policy choices and institutional effectiveness of local governments. Sustainability planning and improved performance are potential benefits stemming from the integration of responsibilities across silos. Our central proposition is that institutionalized collective-action mechanisms, which break down siloed decision-making, foster more successful implementation of sustainability policies. We empirically examine this using two surveys of U.S. cities and find evidence that formal collective-action mechanisms positively mediate the relationship between broader agency involvement and more comprehensive performance information collection and use. However, we identify limits to the role of planning in fostering a performance culture. Specifically, cities that have engaged in broader planning conduct less-comprehensive performance management, likely due to measurement difficulty and goal ambiguity.