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Female representation may be a key factor in improving the quality of governance. In fact, the literature considers that the presence of women in organisations tends to improve performance. In this context, this paper attempts to analyse whether the presence of women in municipal councils has an influence on the efficiency of public services for a sample of 141 Spanish municipalities with more than 50,000 inhabitants for the period 2014–2018. Our results show a U-shaped relationship between the number of female councillors and the level of efficiency in Spanish municipalities. This means that the presence of women is positively associated with municipal efficiency but only if the number of female councillors is relatively high. On the contrary, their voice and personal characteristics are diluted among their male counterparts, and efficiency may be reduced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to investigate the extent of intellectual capital disclosure (ICD) through websites and social media in Spanish local government (SLG) and analyze the factors that explain their disclosure. Design/methodology/approach: The study applies content analysis and regression techniques. The ICD is analyzed for Spanish municipalities with more than 100,000 inhabitants and provincial capitals over a period from January 2018 to February 2020. Findings: Findings emphasize that the quantity of disclosed information on intellectual capital (IC) is in the low level, particularly with regard to human capital (HC). Furthermore, the results show that the information provided via social media mainly concerns the relational capital (RC). On the other hand, results obtained indicate that larger municipalities, with lower financial autonomy and whose citizens have a high income level use the online media (both websites and social media) more actively to disclose information about IC. Finally, municipalities led by women and with high level of citizens' education exert a positive influence in the ICD only on websites. Practical implications: This paper makes a number of key contributions to the existing body of knowledge, focusing on ICD, a neglected area in the public sector accounting literature. It explores and identifies the supply-side and demand-side determinants of information affecting the ICD in local governments. The results of this research could be useful for policymakers, regulators and governments' managers to improve the online information addressing ICD issues. Originality/value: This paper adopts an innovative perspective by investigating the use of alternative tools for ICD in local government context (websites and social media). To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first study that focuses on investigating the determinants of online ICD in local governments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the socio-territorial conflict prompted by Los Merinos: a residential–tourism project constructed in an ecological reserve that is vital to Andalusian livelihoods. It examines disputes concerning discourses, authorities and rules in order to understand the struggle over land and water. Using the echelons of rights analysis (ERA) framework, the paper scrutinizes the multiscale forces and strategies adopted by business and opposing movement networks in order to shape territory, thereby engaging local and supra-local governments. The authors' political–ecology lens on environmental justice and territorialization enhances the understanding of the relevance of social movements in contesting the misappropriation of socio-natural environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Access to public information (that generated by public institutions) is a right recognized by both European (Unión Europea, 2001) and Spanish legislation (España, 1992; 1997; 2013). The bodies of the Spanish State must to make available to the citizens, free of charge and in a transparent way, all the documents that they generate, unless there are national security reasons. Many national, regional and local governments have created information systems or public information platforms in the form of newsletters or gazettes. The purpose of this paper is to find out how is, on a documentary level, the main informative gazette of Spain, the Boletín oficial del Estado (BOE). The metadata of the published documents are studied and the metadata used for documentary description are analyzed in a deeper way. The results reflect the absence of documentary descriptors in more than 89% of the total documentary BOE' corpus. In recent years this figure has barely exceeded 50%. The paper ends with a few recommendations for improvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Comparative studies of urban adaptation have evaluated the progress, means and scope of adaptation planning. Practice on the ground shows that the local politics of climate adaptation advance through various strategies to align different interests and spheres of action or disrupt mainstream practices, which translates into a wide range of interventions. This paper focuses on understanding the dynamics and tools that enable the institutionalisation of adaptation practices in local governments, i.e. the means through which adaptation practices, beyond plans and policies, are embedded in the routines of urban governance. It presents a framework to analyse the institutionalisation of adaptation that maps stages and tools with the potential to deliver adaptation in urban areas. Adaptation is framed as a learning process involving overlapping phases of recognition (of needs, capacities and actors), groundwork (knowledge generation) and action on the ground (change). The framework compares three Spanish local government initiatives (Bilbao, Barcelona and Madrid). The analysis shows that adaptation can be effectively incorporated into standard rules, norms and practices using combinations of tools and spatial and temporal scales. The coupled stages of recognition, groundwork and action highlight the importance of long-term learning processes to engage with the temporal dimensions of adaptation governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the relationship between government efficiency—an important dimension of quality of government—and economic growth at the municipal level in 1,820 Spanish municipalities during the period 2008–2015. At this level of disaggregation, the literature is virtually nonexistent due to severe data constraints. The efficiency of local government provides an accurate indicator of how good local authorities are in managing their budget. This variable is expected to be highly correlated with other more traditional quality of government indicators, such as corruption. After computing our measure, we then use it in a growth regression framework. We find a dominant positive effect of government efficiency on income per capita growth, which is robust to a wide variety of scenarios. Our findings also suggest that increases in local government quality are particularly rewarding for the poorest municipalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The role of community manager is gaining importance as the proper usage of social media becomes a key factor for achieving more active involvement of citizens in social and political issues. Focused on Spanish local governments and in line with the literature of Excellence Theory, this paper aims to analyze whether some characteristics of the community manager function are determinant in their fostering of citizens’ online engagement via social media. In particular ‘independence’, ‘having access to the dominant coalition’, ‘gender diversity’, ‘continuous training’ and ‘culture of the organization’ are the characteristics considered in this paper. As to the main findings, this study confirms that community managers have not as yet achieved their goal of embedding the use of social media by citizens as a means of establishing more direct contact with their local governments. Moreover, in line with Excellence Theory, community managers of local governments should be aware of the importance of having direct access to key managers of the organization in order to better achieve the objectives of the organization and, more specifically, to increase citizens’ engagement. Furthermore, continuous training in issues related to social media truly helps develop the skills and potential of community managers. Likewise, an excellent communication department should rely on good professionals no matter their gender, and, in this sense, the gender of community managers is not a significant factor in their performance. However, the results of this study also reveal that in the case of public sector community managers, an authoritarian culture seems to be a determining factor for obtaining better results in enhancing citizens’ engagement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Former industrial premises provide material and symbolic resources for grassroots creative production, but planning is complex as these sites are transitory and excessive intervention may stifle creativity. This paper analyses the transformations of La Ribera (Bilbao), a mixed-use peninsula waiting to be redeveloped, where, in the meantime, creative-based grassroots projects have settled. Drawing upon relevant planning documents, documentary material and interviews with key actors, the paper explores (i) the spatial and built form advantages of these spaces, (ii) their impact on neighbourhood life and (iii) the contradictions faced in the planning process. The analysis suggests that spatiality plays a critical role, but it is threatened by market pressures, local governments’ interest to encourage the city's reputation and neighbours’ mistrust for the changes they may trigger. As a result, we contend that art spaces’ institutionalization in the neighbourhood is decisive for their sustainability, but the conflicts that arise for the symbolic appropriation of space should be considered. Regarding policy, governance approaches that preserve users’ autonomy and spaces’ built form and atmospheric qualities are rather suitable responses if they are part of a comprehensive agenda that includes local socio-economic conditions and neighbours’ aspirations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the 1990s, the EU Urban policy has provided several opportunities to explore innovation at local level. This policy is based on the so-called Integrated Sustainable Urban Development (ISUD) approach. This paper explores to what extent the URBANA programme, launched by the Spanish government in the frame of the EU Cohesion Policy 2007–2013, has promoted a 'new way of doing things' in local administrations. The research addresses three main objectives. Firstly, to identify which abilities are linked to the ISUD approach. Secondly, to understand how urban managers' capacity has been developed within local administrations in the frame of the URBANA programme. Finally, to assess the effect of URBANA Institutional Capacity (IC) on the local administration. The information has been obtained from the analysis of EU and Spanish official documents, in-depth interviews and a questionnaire targeted to the local technicians. The general conclusion is that there is evidence of an urban Europeanisation in Spain. The mainstream of the ISUD approach is clear at formal level, but also in the level of acceptance of these requirements by the Spanish municipalities. The ISUD approach remains as a 'way of doing', even if proposals are not co-funded by EU funds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban sprawl has recently become a matter of concern throughout Europe, but it is in southern countries where its environmental and economic impact has been most severe. This low-density, spatially expansive urban development pattern can have a highly marked impact on municipal budgets. Thus, local governments may see sprawl as a potential source of finance, in terms of building-associated revenues and increased transfers from upper tiers of government. At the same time, sprawl leads to increased levels of expenditure, as it may raise the provision costs of certain local public goods and requires greater investment in extending basic infrastructure for new urban development. What, therefore, is the net fiscal impact of urban sprawl? Do local governments consider the long-run net fiscal impact of new urban growth or do they simply focus on its short-term benefits, ignoring future development costs? This paper addresses these questions by analysing the dynamic relationship between urban sprawl and local budget variables. To do so, we estimate a panel vector autoregressive model using data for 4,000 Spanish municipalities for the period 1994-2005. Computed generalized impulse response functions show: ( i) that sprawl considerably increases demand for new infrastructure; ( ii) that the capital deficit generated by this new infrastructure is covered in the main by intergovernmental transfers and, to a lesser extent, by revenues linked to the real estate cycle; and ( iii) that sprawl leads to a short-term current surplus, as the increase in current revenues offsets the increase in current expenditures due to public service provision for new developments. Overall, these findings point to a moral hazard problem for local governments in which inordinate intergovernmental transfers and development revenues encourage excessive urban sprawl. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

NPM reforms have become a global trend and performance management systems are considered suitable to enhance the decision-making process and accountability. The aim of the paper is to carry out a comparative study on the adoption of performance measurement tools in Italian and Spanish (medium-sized and large) local governments. It seeks to find out how widespread these tools are and how their usefulness is perceived. The results show differences between the two countries and that the presence of professional managers – experienced with performance measurement tools – positively affects the adoption of these tools. Moreover, performance measurement tools are perceived as a support for accountability purposes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the current crisis, citizens are demanding greater public sector transparency and accountability. In this paper, we advance the understanding of sustainability practices in public administration. We propose to compare the dissemination of sustainability of various regional governments, analyzing the websites of these regional governments through a content analysis, using for this purpose a list of items obtained from the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) guidelines. Our results show that Spanish regional governments, spread two-thirds of the information in the GRI guidelines, being the social information which presents a higher level of response and corresponding general aspects which has a lower level of dissemination. In addition, those regional governments with greater environmental commitment are those who publish more information about sustainability. From our conclusions, we emphasize that the poor financial situation of the Spanish regional governments does not seem to promote them to disseminate information about sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

State aid to increase air traffic at airports has been wide-spread in Spain since the 1990s Its monetary value and distribution among the various airports and carriers are little known aspects, as different formulas have been used for the transfer of funds and little research has been conducted. The use of a wide range of secondary sources has led to the creation of a database that permits an accurate description to be made of the true circumstances of state aid over these years. This paper estimates, for the first time, the amount of subsidies paid from 1996 to 2014, analysing their design and objectives and assessing their level of compliance with current EU legislation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the influence of elections on local government management from the perspective of political budget cycles. The objective is to analyse whether there is budgetary manipulation with the aim of influencing voters' electoral decisions and which budgetary expenses are chosen to carry out this manipulation. We also study the effect of these policies of manipulation on the debt of administrations. The results show evidence of political budget cycles in Valencia's local governments although their influence is not very great. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the political responsibilities of women in local governments of 155 town councils across Spain. The main objective is to examine the situation of female politicians within municipal governments, focusing on the division of power roles (vertical segregation) and the different areas of government (horizontal segregation). We suggest that the gender roles/stereotypes approach may explain the situation of women in formal politics and the inequalities that we have found in these local governments. This approach is combined with the power theory. Thus, a key factor in explaining this situation may also be the dominant role of men in traditional power structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the political responsibilities of women in local governments of 155 town councils across Spain. The main objective is to examine the situation of female politicians within municipal governments, focusing on the division of power roles (vertical segregation) and the different areas of government (horizontal segregation). We suggest that the gender roles/stereotypes approach may explain the situation of women in formal politics and the inequalities that we have found in these local governments. This approach is combined with the power theory. Thus, a key factor in explaining this situation may also be the dominant role of men in traditional power structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The aim of this study is to analyse the level of environmental, economic, and social engagement disclosed by local governments, taking into account factors such as political ideology and media pressure. Design/methodology/approach – The authors analysed 102 large Spanish municipalities, using data from 2011. An econometric model was used based on dependency techniques for cross-sectional data. The Tobit technique is suitable, since it enables the authors to address particular considerations of extreme scores on the dependent variable. Findings – The results show that local governments report less strategic and socio-economic information when subjected to strong media pressure, because the press tends to focus on unusual, negative news, and ignores other issues such as the environment. However, in municipalities governed by left-wing parties, media pressure actually promotes disclosure of this type of information. Research limitations/implications – It would be interesting to create an information index which includes local governments' disclosure, spanning a period of several years. Practical implications – Particularly in municipalities governed by a left-wing party, media pressure favours the disclosure of sustainability information, including information about the municipal corporation and strategic and social issues. Originality/value – This study analyses the impact of the press on the disclosure of sustainability information by local governments and also tests the moderating effect of the ruling party's political ideology. The authors did not find any paper that had analysed this impact before. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a directional distance model for efficient resource allocation when there is a centralized decision maker who oversees all units. The model is designed to allocate grants from an upper-tier government to the municipalities under its jurisdiction. Local governments employ the grants together with levied local taxes to provide services to their citizens. The objective of our formulation is to optimize grants allocation across municipalities taking into account efficiency, effectiveness and horizontal fiscal equity criteria. The model easily allows the setting of alternative priorities of the central decision maker, thus permitting quantification of the trade-off between the potential increase in the provision of local services and its associated cost. The model is applied to the allocation of current grants in the autonomous community of Navarre in northern Spain. • A directional distance model for centralized resource allocation and efficient target setting is proposed. • The model is designed to allocate grants from an upper-tier government to municipalities under its jurisdiction. • Grant allocation across municipalities achieves financial sufficiency and horizontal equity or fiscal equalization. • The model is applied to simulate the allocation of grants to municipalities by the regional government of Navarre, Spain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the factors underlying the development of e-government, as an overall process, as well as of each of the three stages identified in the prior literature (e-government, egovernance and e-democracy). The analysis has focused on 102 Spanish municipalities, and it consists in a content analysis of their web pages, based on an information index, in order to develop a dependency model. The results obtained indicate that Spanish municipalities show high information transparency regarding economic, environmental and social matters, allowing the undertaking of administrative proceedings online and actively promoting the participation of interest groups in strategic, sustainable and managerial issues. Our findings stress the importance of the municipality's size and the ruling party's political ideology of a deeper commitment with the development of e-government. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Spanish local governments may offer, in accordance with Royal Decree 2/2004, tax credits up to 50% in Real Estate Tax for those with installed solar powered thermal or electrical energy systems. This paper analyzes by logistic regression estimation which factors influence the decision of governments to implement this tax credit. Factors included as explanatory variables are related to the characteristics of municipalities, fiscal stress, environmental stress, the environmentally friendly nature of municipalities, the neighboring effect, and economic motivations. Results show that municipalities applying these measures are mostly large in size, with high solar potential, with predominantly collective-housing buildings, with low fiscal stress, mainly rural, environmentally friendly, surrounded by municipalities implementing similar measures and with higher unemployment rates. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

In light of the extensive presence and preservation of communal property and resources in territories in mainland Spain, the aim of this paper is to analyse the keys to the use, distribution and retention of such properties and resources, particularly those still in existence, with particular regard to common pasture lands and woodlands. A compilation of council by-laws from past periods, combined with the production of a catalogue of agricultural patterns, has enabled an in-depth study of certain fundamental points relating to social and economic development. Such development has tended to maintain the balance between resources and population and to conserve resources through sustained and sustainable use that to some extent has guaranteed the occupation of lands, the preservation of rural communities and the perpetuation of traditional systems in the context of new challenges and contemporary needs. A combination of qualitative and quantitative documentary sources has enabled elucidation of the role and the full dimensions of communal properties. In particular, the causes and consequences, either of their sale or privatisation, or of their preservation and exploitation, will be outlined in the context of changes and new contemporary needs. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Thi s paper analyzes the intervention of the local Ordinances in the right of private property. A reflection is realized about the scope of the normative power of the local Governments in this matter. Taking into consideration the flexible concept of the principle of legal reservation in this field (art. 33 CE), it is a question of formulating the canon about local normative power, according to the space that in the praxis corresponds to these local norms. For it, there is an analysis the solutions that support in different sectors the courts, which control the local Ordinances that concern the right of property. It is verified that not always they support the same canon. As a final conclusion, it is offered a doctrinal explanation of this different jurisprudential treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides, for the first time, an insight into the influence of urban, political, demographic, and economic factors on several categories of municipal spending, after controlling for the spatial effects. The models of spatial two-step least squares (S2SLS), spatial lag, and spatial error are applied to a sample of 3,204 Spanish municipalities for the year 2005. The results show that the spending of a municipality is influenced by its neighboring municipalities' spending. Concerning geographical factors, population density has a negative impact on municipal expenditures per capita. The negative impact of population density on per capita total expenditures has policy relevance because it indicates that planning decisions aiming at increase population density will reduce per capita government expenditures, both in small and larger cities. Political ideology does not influence spending. Nevertheless, strong political governments do spend more. Therefore, it is not that the incumbents belong to left or right, but their strong majority which allows them to carry out their policies by spending more. The policy issue at stake here is whether municipal political majorities should be tempered, so that opposition surveillance keeps spending under control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Growing social concern about the impact of companies in their environment and on their stakeholders has led to being required by the observance of responsible management principles. In a parallel way, these demands have reached public sector entities, so their representatives should be aware of the importance of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in the service they provide to society. This paper shows how public organisms should be responsible in the performance and in the disclosure of their CSR. So, and from the analysis of its websites, a study of the resources included in the municipalities of Extremadura is carried out. Through a relationship of indicators built ad hoc from previous literature, the information on CSR reported in the municipalities more than 5.000 people is analyzed. The results show that important steps are being taken and there are evidences about the Local Government is developing specific CSR policies, although much work is still to be done at local level in this sense. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interest in transparency is increasing worldwide. Literature on their determinants is evolving but is still in early stages. So far, it has typically focused on national governments while neglecting local governments. This paper examines the economic, social, and institutional determinants of local government transparency in Spain. We broaden the traditional fiscal focus by including corporate, social, contracting, and planning transparency indexes. Our results indicate that large municipalities and left-wing mayors report better transparency indexes; while the worst results are presented by provincial capitals, touristic cities and mayors with absolute majority. The analysis of specific transparency categories generally shows the consistent impact of these determinants. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Abstract: This paper contributes to previous country-level analyses of non-financial reporting in the public sector by studying public transparency in relation to sustainability, as well as by assessing the determinants of sustainability disclosure practices in Spanish municipalities. We have carried out a content analysis of the websites of 102 Spanish local governments. Subsequently, we have employed different statistical techniques (biplots and dependence models) to analyse the extent of disclosure and to determine the impact of certain contextual and political factors on transparency in matters of sustainability. When compared to the amount of information that is revealed concerning financial issues, disclosure practices regarding social and environmental information are rather scarce. We have also observed that several political factors, more specifically, the presence of conservative governments and political rivalry, may become genuine barriers to municipal transparency. Based on these findings, we can make two policy recommendations. First, it seems necessary to establish national policies, laws or recommendations that generate similar levels of transparency among local governments in order to avoid social dilemmas. In this sense, similar accountability processes limit non-sustainable behaviours, playing a similar role to that of markets for the private sector. Second, accountability processes should focus on the addition of information concerning social and environmental actions and on informing of the effects of municipalities on them, going beyond the strictly economic dimension. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The factors most commonly used to measure the quality of life of a population are related to the public services available. In Spain, processes of functional decentralisation and externalisation are implemented by numerous local governments to deliver these services more efficiently, and there may be a relationship between the mode of public services delivery and the quality of life of the local population. Therefore, this paper seeks empirical evidence, using panel data models, of the effects of the functional decentralisation and externalisation of public services on the quality of life of the inhabitants of Spanish municipalities. The results obtained show that this quality of life is higher where the local government makes use of functional decentralisation. However, the results when the private sector is included in the analysis (in the form of externalisation and mixed companies) are ambiguous. More concretely, the quality of life is higher in municipalities where urban services are provided through foundations or autonomous organisations, where public companies provide public transport and health care services, and where trade services are provided by public companies, autonomous organisations or public business entities. The quality of life of inhabitants is enhanced when water services are provided by externalisation or by mixed companies. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper analyzes economic voting in decentralized contexts. The existence of several arenas of political competition allows for the appearance of vertical electoral contamination processes, implying that voters do not evaluate the performance of national and regional governments independently. Using the case of Spain in the period 1982-2008, it is demonstrated that this electoral contamination spreads from the national arena to the regional one, and not the other way round. However, electoral contamination tends to diminish as the process of decentralization takes place over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Local governments are responsible for the supply of important public services in cities. On many occasions the management of those services is externalized. There is extensive literature analyzing the explanations for the governance option taken by local governments, aiming to ascertain the reasons why the management of certain services is externalized. Recent research has highlighted the fact that time has not been contemplated by research dealing with explanatory factors in the decision to contract out municipal services. This is a key issue in order to identify the real reason behind policymakers’ decisions about the management of the services in cities. This paper tests the importance of taking into account time in the research into contracting out. This is undertaken by means of two methodological tests in the design of variables from a dataset containing 744 municipalities in Southern Spain. Using this empirical analysis as a basis, it is concluded that considering time contributes towards enhancing the specification of the model and that omitting this aspect could lead to misunderstanding the motivation behind such decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes collaboration strategies for the provision of services at local level in the municipalities of Spain, United States and Norway. It focuses on the importance of these strategies and how they are carried out in the cases mentioned, as well as the role that various factors play in such strategies. For this purpose, attention is paid to elements of the social, economic and political dynamics of the municipality, but also to the institutional design elements which shape the position that local authorities occupy in the intergovernmental system in each case. This requires an analytical approach at two different levels, which we call meso and micro respectively. The meso level concerns institutional design elements that operate in the municipality as a determining factor in the collaboration models, whilst the micro level deals with those elements located in local political society that determine the local authorities' opportunities for carrying out their strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last few years, there has been a devolutionary tendency in many developed and developing countries. In this paper we propose a methodology to decompose whether the benefits in terms of efficiency derived from transfers of powers from higher to municipal levels of government (the 'economic dividend' of devolution) might increase over time. This methodology is based on linear programming approaches for efficiency measurement. We provide an application to Spanish municipalities, which have had to adapt to the European Stability and Growth Pact as well as to domestic regulation seeking local governments' balanced budget. Results indicate that efficiency gains from enhanced decentralization have increased over time. However, the ways in which these gains accrue differ across municipalities—in some cases technical change is the main component, whereas in others catching up dominates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides additional evidence about the possible relationship between performance and public or private governance of urban water utilities. Data envelopment analysis (DEA) techniques are used to compute technical efficiency scores for a sample of Spanish water utilities. The principal contribution of this research is adaptation of the DEA technique to programmatic efficiency estimation in order to analyse the link between ownership and efficiency. From a first specification of the model, which allows a conventional estimation of efficiency, additional estimations, taking quality and hydraulic yield into account, were made. The results show that private management is more efficient when the estimations are made using the original model and when quality is taken into account. However, there are no significant differences between private and public management when hydraulic yield is included. The results suggest that public managers are more sensitive to the sustainable management of water resources. They also suggest that local governments follow a strategy of privatising water services when they are in financial difficulty, with fewer resources for maintaining distribution networks. This is an aspect that needs further investigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we investigate how local governments finance public services, and their choice between budget funding and flat service fees. On the basis of a simple model of electoral competition we predict that the tax policy will be extreme (either progressive or conservative) only if both the voting majority's economic interests and the valence point to the same ideological side. If ideological and economic interests diverge, then the equilibrium policy will be a moderate one. From our empirical analysis we find that progressive mayors in progressive constituencies use budget funding to a greater degree, whereas conservative mayors in conservative constituencies prefer flat service fees. When the political affiliation of the mayor and the ideological bias of the constituency diverge, more moderate policies are chosen. We find also that service-specific deficits are lower in cities with private production of solid waste service. Thus policy makers may have used privatization as a means to reduce the political cost of increasing service-specific taxes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Much of the recent worldwide trend towards devolution has been driven by the belief that fiscal decentralisation is likely to have a positive effect on government efficiency and economic growth. It is generally assumed that the transfer of powers and resources to lower tiers of government allows for a better matching of public policies to local needs and thus for a better allocation of resources. These factors, in turn, are expected to lead to an improvement in regional economic performance, if subnational authorities shift resources from current to capital expenditures in search of a better response to local needs. In this paper we test these assumptions empirically by analysing the evolution of subnational expenditure categories and regional growth in Germany, India, Mexico, Spain, and the USA. We find that, contrary to expectations, decentralisation has coincided in the sample countries with a relative increase in current expenditures at the expense of capital expenditures, which has been associated with lower levels of economic growth in countries where devolution has been driven from above (India and Mexico), but not in Spain, where it has been driven from below. We hypothesise that the differences in legitimacy between the central or federal government and subnational governments in top-down and bottom-up processes of devolution may be at the origin of the diverse capacity to deliver greater allocative and productive efficiency and, eventually, greater economic growth by devolved governments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we investigate the impact of the implementation of EU programmes on substate actors, and more specifically regional ones. We focus on the case of the INTERREG cross-border initiative in France and Spain between 2000 and 2003, and whether INTERREG succeeded in empowering regional governments and local authorities as it initially claimed to. Our analysis puts to the fore that this programme has not evolved from being 'a policy for the regions to a policy by the regions' as many expected, but that its implementation rather reveals a wide range of configurations. Indeed, the execution of INTERREG facilitated the transition from a state-centric scheme to a regionalised one only in those territories where a previous decentralisation policy had been realised at the domestic level and where a consistent regional leadership had emerged during earlier versions of INTERREG. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an analysis of the development of the WWW information systems in the local administration in Spain (1997-2002). First, we are going to review the legislation about public administration on Internet (LORTAD, Comisión Interministerial de Información Administrativa, Plan Info XXI, España.es, Red.es etc.). Our main objective is to register the historical evolution of the use and application of WWW in Spanish local administration, arised by the number of citizens. We propose one new method of analysis: the study of the first level domains of the electronic addresses of the units. Finally, we conclude that there has been an important evolution, though it is not homogeneous, that: those units that have been lately introduced in Internet have experienced a fast growth since 1999, that the measure domain strange/own is valid for the town halls and that the domain ".es" is diminishing compared to others such as ".org". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the relation between tax mimicking and electoral accountability against the background of data on Spain. The results confirm the presence of tax-mimicking behaviour and indicate a relation between tax mimicking and electoral accountability. Tax rates are found to be higher and the reaction to neighbours'' tax rates lower when the electoral margin is high and when left-wing parties control government. Coalition governments do not tax heavily and mimic more than single party majority governments. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Geographical accessibility to health care services is widely accepted as relevant to improve population health. However, measuring it is very complex, mainly when applied at administrative levels that go beyond the small-area level. This is the case in Portugal, where the municipality is the administrative level that is most appropriate for implementing policies to improve the access to those services. The aim of this paper is to assess whether inequalities in terms of access to a hospital in Portugal have improved over the last 20 years. A population-weighted driving time was applied using the census tract population, the roads network, the reference hospitals' catchment area and the municipality boundaries. The results show that municipalities are 25 min away from the hospital—3 min less than in 1991—and that there is an association with premature mortality, elderly population and population density. However, disparities between municipalities are still huge. Municipalities with higher rates of older populations, isolated communities or those located closer to the border with Spain face harder challenges and require greater attention from local administration. Since municipalities now have responsibilities for health, it is important they implement interventions at the local level to tackle disparities impacting access to healthcare. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A great deal of regional research has focused on the innovation-competitiveness-growth chain, which is implicit in territorial innovation models ( TIMs). TIMs literature has neglected or subordinated social and ecological regional conditions. This research adopts a broader perspective by: ( i) studying an interscalar intergovernmental network aimed at meeting tridimensional sustainable development ( SD) goals; and ( ii) showing why this arrangement is successful. The network members are the regional government and provincial councils, which act as network promoters, and the municipalities. We model the network as a platform for integrating both pre-existing idiosyncratic resources and emergent resources/benefits that come from rich and regular interactions (in the shape of learning, enjoyment, reputation, identification, and attitude towards citizen participation); resources integration leads to network member satisfaction. This view is supported by data concerning a network in a Spanish autonomous community (region), Castile- La Mancha. We see this study as a first step towards more systematic research on what might be termed 'territorial sustainability models'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multiple previous studies at international level have examined the effects of land use policies regarding to sustainability, and particularly devoted to the induced private car mobility excess. However, it is remarkable the different urban planning tradition depending on the country or region. Thus, the Mediterranean urbanism has been generally featured by high or moderately high population and dwellings density, which has promoted the presence of pedestrians on streets. In this paper we analyse the case of Burgos city, as an example of mid-sized city in Spain. Although it isn't suffering sprawl symptoms, its local administration is trying to improve current modal share by increasing sustainable means of transport. The performed analysis includes population, dwellings density and absolute compactness, to check their influence in car trip generation. In coherence with previous studies, our results have shown a qualitative correlation between low densities and higher use of private car for the studied case. The effects of some urban planning policies are discussed as possible reasons of observed behaviour, serving as basis for future recommendations. • Density and compactness are studied and correlated for a Spanish city case. • Population and traffic generation data are combined in a GIS model using an innovative approach for a qualitative analysis. • Results have shown a clear correlation between low population density and high number of car trips for the selected case. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]