This paper analyses some of the organisational aspects of urban solid waste collection. It starts by discussing some of the theoretical issues of contracting out. Then, an explanatory model is specified and estimated on a sample of surveyed municipalities. The purpose is twofold: first, to identify the role of some economic factors when deciding to contract out the service; secondly, to analyse the role of politics in choosing between public production and contracting out. The results show a significant effect of the demand of waste collection on contracting out. There also appears to be a neighbouring effect as municipalities close to others already contracting out are also more prone to do so. Finally, the decisions to contract out seem to have been motivated by pragmatic rather than ideological reasons.
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