Local Public Enterprises: A Taxonomy

Abstract: Local public enterprises (LPE) represent a popular mode of public service delivery in OECD countries. In Europe, where the use of LPEs is particularly pronounced, local governments use not only public enterprises integrated into the administration but also 16,000 legally independent organizations, which they own at least partially. The use of LPEs varies, however, greatly between countries and is largely determined by the allocation of public service delivery between public and private sector as well as the functional decentralization in federal systems. In this report, we develop a comprehensive taxonomy of LPEs along three criteria: directly managed LPEs, corporatized LPEs and mixed (intermunicipal and public private) LPEs.
This work has been coordinated by Claire Charbit.