Public-Private Partnerships and Cooperative Agreements in Municipal Service Delivery

This study uses quantitative and qualitative survey data on the use of public-private partnership in provision and production of public services by municipalities in predominantly rural New Hampshire (USA). Descriptive analysis suggests that town officials are less satisfied with the quality of privatized services, suggesting that privatization involves some tradeoff between costs and quality. These results differ from the experiences of large metropolitan areas and suggest that conclusions of previous research do not necessarily generalize to the challenges faced by small rural communities. Statistical analysis confirms that available fiscal health, geography, and voting patterns are linked to privatization decisions. The authors thank participants at the annual meetings of the Northeastern Agricultural and Resource Economics Association for helpful comments, Aichatou Hassane for research assistance and New Hampshire Agricultural Experiment Station, the New Hampshire Municipal Association, and the Whittemore School of Business and Economics for financial support. This is Scientific Contribution Number *** from the New Hampshire Agricultural Experiment Station.