Efficiency of water service management alternatives in Spain considering environmental factors

The main aim of this study is to identify the most efficient forms of management for municipal water supply services, taking into account exogenous factors. The study is based on a sample of 1518 Spanish municipalities, all with 1000 to 50,000 inhabitants, for the year 2019. The study method consists of analysing order-m partial frontiers subjected to environmental factors. The main results obtained indicate that mixed management forms achieve the highest levels of efficiency.Andalusian Regional Government, Grant Number: P20.00605University of Granada (FEDER funding), Grant Number: A.SEJ.351.UGR18Ministry of Science and Innovation, Grant Number: PID2021- 128713OB-I0University of Granada "AYUDAS DEL PLAN PROPIO UGR 2022", Grant Number: PPJIA2022-5

Measuring the Efficiency of Public and Private Delivery Forms: An Application to theWaste Collection Service Using Order-M Data Panel Frontier Analysis

Many studies have been undertaken to determine whether waste collection services are provided more efficiently by private or by public management. To date, however, the findings reported are inconclusive, partly due to the need to evaluate this question over a broad time horizon. In this paper, the question is examined taking into account an extended study period (2002–2014) and applying an order-m data panel method that provides more robust findings than those reported in previous research. The results show that, in general, public-sector provision of the waste collection service is more efficient than private alternatives.This research was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (ECO2016-76578-R, and the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports under Grant (FPU16/04279)

Neural Bases of Sector Bias in Perceptions of Public vs. Private-sector Service Performance

Governments, political parties and public institutions regularly design and launch communication campaigns emphasising their successes, fostering participation in democratic acts, promoting the use of public services and seeking to boost electoral support. Accordingly, researchers in the fields of politics and public administration have long sought to enhance our understanding of how individuals perceive the performance of services offered by the private and public sectors. In this respect, conflicting findings have been reported: some studies affirm there is an anti-public sector bias, others detect a preference towards public-sector providers, and some have found no evidence of a sector bias, pro or anti. We believe it crucially important to understand the mechanisms underlying sector bias, if it exists. To address the current research gap in this area, we make use of theories and tools drawn from neuropolitics (namely, functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging, fMRI) to elucidate the neurobiological foundations of perceptions regarding the performance of public-sector service providers. The neural findings obtained reveal that brain networks associated with reward and positive values provide a neurobiological explanation for pro-public sector bias, while neural mechanisms linked to aversion, risk, ambiguity and motivated reasoning are associated with an anti-public sector bias. The implications of these findings should be considered by policymakers; for example, to promote acceptance of public-sector service provision, people must be clearly informed about the goals achieved and other positive aspects