Corruption, Accountability and Efficiency. An Application to Municipal Solid Waste Services

Graziano Abrate, Federico Boffa, Fabrizio Erbetta () and Davide Vannoni
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Fabrizio Erbetta: Department of Business Management and Environment, University of Eastern Piedmont

No 22, Working papers from Department of Economics, Social Studies, Applied Mathematics and Statistics (Dipartimento di Scienze Economico-Sociali e Matematico-Statistiche), University of Torino

Abstract: This paper explores the link between accountability, corruption and efficiency in the context of a career concern model where politically connected local monopolies are in charge of the provision of a local public service. We find that both corruption and a low degree of accountability induce managers to reduce effort levels, thereby contributing to drive down efficiency. Our predictions are tested using data on solid waste management services provided by a large sample of Italian municipalities. The results of the estimation of a stochastic cost frontier model provide robust evidence that high corruption levels and low degrees of accountability substantially increase cost inefficiency. Finally, we show that the negative impact of corruption is weaker for municipalities ruled by left-wing parties, while the positive impact of accountability is stronger if the refuse collection service is managed by limited liability companies.

Keywords: corruption; accountability efficiency; solid waste. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D24 D72 D73 L25 Q53 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 34 pages
Date: 2013-07
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cdm, nep-eff, nep-eur, nep-nps, nep-pbe and nep-reg
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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http://www.bemservizi.unito.it/repec/tur/wpapnw/m22.pdf First version, 2013 (application/pdf)

Related works:
Working Paper: CORRUPTION, ACCOUNTABILITY AND EFFICIENCY. AN APPLICATION TO MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE SERVICES (2014)
Working Paper: Corruption, Accountability and Efficiency. An Application to Municipal Solid Waste Services (2013)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:tur:wpapnw:022

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