Styles of inter-municipal cooperation and the multiple principal problem: a comparative analysis of European Economic Area countries

ABSTRACT Cooperation in the delivery of public services is generally framed as desirable, but it is often hindered by serious collective action problems. The article compares inter-municipal cooperation in seven countries with different institutional settings. It investigates the rules of governance characterising these diverse institutional settings and assesses how they deal with the multiple principal problem. The authors find that in almost all cases, all participating municipalities are represented on the supervisory board of the cooperative entity. In contrast, in other less frequent case cooperation is frequently managed through a different tier of local government, thus circumventing the multiple principal problem affecting inter-municipal arrangements in the other countries.