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Outsourcing Public Services: Contractibility, Cost, and Quality

Andersson, Fredrik LU orcid ; Jordahl, Henrik and Josephson, Jens (2019) In CESifo Economic Studies 65(4). p.349-372
Abstract
We review the literature on public sector outsourcing to explore if the theoretical predictions from the incomplete contracts literature hold up to recent empirical evidence. Guided by theory, we arrange services according to the type and magnitude of their contractibility problems. The empirical studies point at rather favourable outsourcing outcomes, in terms of costs and quality, for services without severe contracting problems. The picture is more mixed for services with tougher contracting problems, with the weight of the evidence in favour of public provision. This difference between services is largely in line with the property-rights framework and theories of incomplete contracts.
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Contracts, Public services
in
CESifo Economic Studies
volume
65
issue
4
pages
24 pages
publisher
Oxford University Press
external identifiers
  • scopus:85077753707
ISSN
1610-241X
DOI
10.1093/cesifo/ifz009
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
09a3a22d-f05e-4901-8545-ad1b6aaa3d6c
date added to LUP
2019-06-24 13:00:52
date last changed
2024-06-13 10:54:41
@article{09a3a22d-f05e-4901-8545-ad1b6aaa3d6c,
  abstract     = {{We review the literature on public sector outsourcing to explore if the theoretical predictions from the incomplete contracts literature hold up to recent empirical evidence. Guided by theory, we arrange services according to the type and magnitude of their contractibility problems. The empirical studies point at rather favourable outsourcing outcomes, in terms of costs and quality, for services without severe contracting problems. The picture is more mixed for services with tougher contracting problems, with the weight of the evidence in favour of public provision. This difference between services is largely in line with the property-rights framework and theories of incomplete contracts.}},
  author       = {{Andersson, Fredrik and Jordahl, Henrik and Josephson, Jens}},
  issn         = {{1610-241X}},
  keywords     = {{Contracts; Public services}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{4}},
  pages        = {{349--372}},
  publisher    = {{Oxford University Press}},
  series       = {{CESifo Economic Studies}},
  title        = {{Outsourcing Public Services: Contractibility, Cost, and Quality}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/cesifo/ifz009}},
  doi          = {{10.1093/cesifo/ifz009}},
  volume       = {{65}},
  year         = {{2019}},
}