Introduction or preface

- Calculation and comparison of quality and efficiency indicators in the provision of local public services have been a relatively neglected field of research in industrial economics. Even the regulatory bodies, if any, which supervise these sectors, have generally failed to construct rigorous and exhaustive databases, and therefore lack what would be an essential tool to exercise their power as regulators. An incomplete and unclear picture emerges, where what little available information there is, is to be found in the "charters of service" drawn up by the companies themselves using selfreferential codes and methodologies that are neither shared nor controlled. The lack of transparence in information terms often goes hand-in-hand with operating inefficiencies, which can be perpetrated more easily in the absence of suitable benchmarking activity. This article seeks to provide an account of an extensive research project to collect and compile quality and efficiency indicators which the Mediobanca Research Department has carried out on behalf of the Civicum Foundation with reference to local public service operators controlled by six of the leading Italian municipalities (Bologna, Brescia, Milan, Naples, Rome and Turin) between 2003 and 2007. .Keywords: local public services, urban hygiene, mains water, electricity, quality, efficiency, municipality-owned companiesParole chiave: servizi pubblici locali, igiene urbana, acquedotti, elettricitŕ, qualitŕ, efficienza, imprese a controllo comunale.Jel Classification: L90 - L32