Competition in public service provision: The role of not-for-profit providers

With public services such as health and education, it is not straightforward for consumers to assess the quality of provision. Many such services are provided by monopoly not-for-profit providers and there is concern that for-profit providers may increase profit at the expense of quality. This paper...

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Main Authors: Besley, T, Malcomson, J
Format: Journal article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2018
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author Besley, T
Malcomson, J
author_facet Besley, T
Malcomson, J
author_sort Besley, T
collection OXFORD
description With public services such as health and education, it is not straightforward for consumers to assess the quality of provision. Many such services are provided by monopoly not-for-profit providers and there is concern that for-profit providers may increase profit at the expense of quality. This paper explores the implications of entry by for-profit providers when there is unobserved quality. The model generates three key policy-relevant insights. First, by developing a novel approach to competition between different organizational forms, it frames the relevant trade-offs precisely. Second, it shows the value of keeping an incumbent not-for-profit as an active provider. Third, it characterizes the optimal payment (or voucher value) to an entrant for each consumer who switches in a way that can be applied empirically.
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spelling oxford-uuid:44754dc7-ef2a-4827-aa07-7fcf23944f572022-03-26T15:01:40ZCompetition in public service provision: The role of not-for-profit providersJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:44754dc7-ef2a-4827-aa07-7fcf23944f57EnglishSymplectic Elements at OxfordElsevier2018Besley, TMalcomson, JWith public services such as health and education, it is not straightforward for consumers to assess the quality of provision. Many such services are provided by monopoly not-for-profit providers and there is concern that for-profit providers may increase profit at the expense of quality. This paper explores the implications of entry by for-profit providers when there is unobserved quality. The model generates three key policy-relevant insights. First, by developing a novel approach to competition between different organizational forms, it frames the relevant trade-offs precisely. Second, it shows the value of keeping an incumbent not-for-profit as an active provider. Third, it characterizes the optimal payment (or voucher value) to an entrant for each consumer who switches in a way that can be applied empirically.
spellingShingle Besley, T
Malcomson, J
Competition in public service provision: The role of not-for-profit providers
title Competition in public service provision: The role of not-for-profit providers
title_full Competition in public service provision: The role of not-for-profit providers
title_fullStr Competition in public service provision: The role of not-for-profit providers
title_full_unstemmed Competition in public service provision: The role of not-for-profit providers
title_short Competition in public service provision: The role of not-for-profit providers
title_sort competition in public service provision the role of not for profit providers
work_keys_str_mv AT besleyt competitioninpublicserviceprovisiontheroleofnotforprofitproviders
AT malcomsonj competitioninpublicserviceprovisiontheroleofnotforprofitproviders