Environmental inter-local collaboration under meta-governance: the trade-off between collective and selective benefits

ABSTRACT This study investigates how local decision-makers influence the impact of high-level government meta-governance tools on environmental inter-local collaboration when the collective benefits of inter-jurisdictional collaboration conflict with the selective benefits of decision-makers. We address this issue focusing on empirical cases of inter-provincial watershed environmental collaborations in China. Using a difference-in-differences model for the analysis, we find that meta-governance tools of high-level government can facilitate the adoption of environmental inter-local collaboration arrangements. However, this facilitation decreases when local decision-makers lack progressive ambition or face peer competition. This study demonstrates the strategic responses of local decision-makers in environmental inter-local collaboration influenced by high-level government.