Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/202747 
Year of Publication: 
2019
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 12401
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
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.
Subjects: 
publicly provided goods
property rights
privatization
JEL: 
D23
H11
L33
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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