Governance of Local Public Service Delivery: Between Policy, Efficiency, and Legitimacy

We focus on the relationship between the public and the market in providing local public services, examining the dilemmas of efficiency and control that characterise the different governance models. Following a comprehensive review of the prevailing theoretical approaches and institutional transformations, the analysis demonstrates how outsourcing public services, while generating economies of scale and scope, concomitantly weakens public monitoring mechanisms. We suggest that integrated public industrial operators may be able to reconcile coordination needs with efficiency benefits, especially in fragmented contexts or where a territorial regulatory authority is lacking. A hybrid configuration is proposed to strengthen public governance while exploiting the advantages of the industrial dimension. The policy implications of this situation highlight the need for innovative institutional solutions capable of addressing the current challenges of local service sustainability.