Collective action and public goods: A study of urban neighborhoods in Kathmandu, Nepal

The trends of urbanization and decentralization have contributed to the renewal of community-based approaches in the delivery and management of essential public services in many developing countries. This attention to community and self-help approaches comes at a time when local governments are failing to meet the most basic needs of their citizens. Given the state and market failures, self-help or collective provision of services is often the default choice for resource-poor communities and households. Support for self-help approaches is hinged on the view that once communities are given the tools, they will be able to realize the goals of social and economic development. Using survey data and Structural Equation Modeling, this dissertation examines these claims through an empirical investigation of collective action in urban neighborhoods or tols (n = 104) in Kathmandu, Nepal.;This study investigates three research questions: (a) what is the impact of antecedent factors such as neighboring behavior, reputation, perception of residents, and generalized trust on collaboration in tols? (b) How does collaboration affect the quality of public infrastructure and safety in neighborhood? and (c) What is the relationship between outcomes and factors of neighborhood collaboration? The findings of the study stress the importance of factors such as generalized trust and perception of residents in fostering neighborhood collaboration. Contrary to previous theoretical assertions, this study finds no improvement in the quality of neighborhood public infrastructure and safety due to neighborhood collaboration. However, this study finds that quality of public infrastructure in the neighborhood positively influences neighboring behavior.;These diverse findings highlight the potential and limitations of self-help or collective strategies in urban community development. In order to better inform future policy and practice, future research studies need to consider key endogenous and exogenous variables that are important in collective action. The limitations of the present study also emphasize the need for better strategies in future community research. If collective provision of services is the only choice for many urban communities under decentralization, then it is essential that we not only understand how this process unravels in communities, but also who benefits in the process.