Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/81318 
Year of Publication: 
2011
Series/Report no.: 
IFN Working Paper No. 877
Publisher: 
Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN), Stockholm
Abstract: 
There are several theoretical accounts of public sector outsourcing. We note that leading theories give different predictions of the influence of political variables and test the predictions on a Swedish data set in which outsourcing varies between municipalities and over time as well as between services. Our identification strategy focuses on two services with similar contracting problems and local market conditions: preschools and primary schools. We study a period in which Swedish municipalities had full discretion in the provision of preschools, while their influence on the provision of primary education was limited by a national voucher system. The comparison of preschools and primary schools in a difference-in-differences model suggests that the political color of the ruling majority matters for outsourcing, which is consistent with the citizen candidate model of representative democracy.
Subjects: 
Outsourcing
Ideology
Public provision
Contracting out
JEL: 
D23
H11
H40
L33
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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