ISTPP’s Dr. Xinsheng Liu and Dr. Arnold Vedlitz recently published a research article on the topic of citizen and public service co-production. This article was coauthored with ISTTP Research Fellow Dr. Youlang Zhang.
“How Social Capital Shapes Citizen Willingness to Co‐invest in Public Service: The Case of Flood Control” has appeared in the journal Public Administration. In this research, the authors examine one of the fundamental questions in co-production literature: Why are citizens in some communities more willing to co‐invest in public services than citizens in other communities?
Focusing on community contexts and using local flood control in the United States as an example, the authors investigate how a community’s social capital affects citizen willingness to invest their personal resources in public services. Using data from three sources, their study shows that citizens living in counties with more social capital are less willing to co‐invest in local flood control. The authors discuss important public administration and public policy implications of their findings.
Zhang, Youlang, Xinsheng Liu, and Arnold Vedlitz. 2020. “How Social Capital Shapes Citizen Willingness to Co‐invest in Public Service: The Case of Flood Control.” Public Administration 98(3): 696−712.