Efficiency Benchmarking in the Swiss Municipality Sectore

Abstract

The idea behind this research was established through the reform in 2008 along the financial equalization and task allocation, which engendered fundamentally new streams of financial resources and financial responsibilities among the cantons and municipalities. Hence, the federalism reform not only leads to an enormous pressure on change in the communities, but also triggers out the question of efficient allocation of goods and services among municipalities. This research identifies the optimal size of Swiss municipalities by forming an efficiency benchmark based on a DEA efficiency analysis.