The Relationship Between Population Size and Contracting Out Public Services: Evidence from a Quasi-experiment in Danish Municipalities

Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review

Standard

The Relationship Between Population Size and Contracting Out Public Services : Evidence from a Quasi-experiment in Danish Municipalities. / Foged, Søren Kjær.

In: Urban Affairs Review, Vol. 52, No. 3, 3, 2015, p. 348-390.

Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review

Harvard

Foged, SK 2015, 'The Relationship Between Population Size and Contracting Out Public Services: Evidence from a Quasi-experiment in Danish Municipalities', Urban Affairs Review, vol. 52, no. 3, 3, pp. 348-390. https://doi.org/10.1177/1078087415591288

APA

Foged, S. K. (2015). The Relationship Between Population Size and Contracting Out Public Services: Evidence from a Quasi-experiment in Danish Municipalities. Urban Affairs Review, 52(3), 348-390. [3]. https://doi.org/10.1177/1078087415591288

Vancouver

Foged SK. The Relationship Between Population Size and Contracting Out Public Services: Evidence from a Quasi-experiment in Danish Municipalities. Urban Affairs Review. 2015;52(3):348-390. 3. https://doi.org/10.1177/1078087415591288

Author

Foged, Søren Kjær. / The Relationship Between Population Size and Contracting Out Public Services : Evidence from a Quasi-experiment in Danish Municipalities. In: Urban Affairs Review. 2015 ; Vol. 52, No. 3. pp. 348-390.

Bibtex

@article{7af328d128694a0382c6a1651a3e2085,
title = "The Relationship Between Population Size and Contracting Out Public Services: Evidence from a Quasi-experiment in Danish Municipalities",
abstract = "What is the causal relationship between population size and the contracting out of public service delivery in local governments? The size of the population of a given municipality has long been thought to be an important driver of contracting out public service delivery, which theoretically streamlines public service production and saves taxpayers{\textquoteright} money. This article makes use of the 2007 Danish local government structural reform—when 239 municipalities were merged into 66 new entities while 29 municipalities remained untouched—as a quasi-experiment to explore the population size/contracting out relationship. Results show that the relationship differs across policy sectors: It is negative for services with high fixed costs, presumably due to scale economies, and is positive for services that are difficult to measure, probably due to more administrative and technical capacity in larger municipalities. Also, the effect of population size is positive for tasks in free-choice markets, presumably because private contractors find large free-choice markets more attractive. ",
keywords = "Faculty of Social Sciences, contracting out, privatization, local governments, quasi-experiment, sector-specific, jurisdiction size, population size",
author = "Foged, {S{\o}ren Kj{\ae}r}",
year = "2015",
doi = "10.1177/1078087415591288",
language = "English",
volume = "52",
pages = "348--390",
journal = "Urban Affairs Review",
issn = "1078-0874",
publisher = "SAGE Publications",
number = "3",

}

RIS

TY - JOUR

T1 - The Relationship Between Population Size and Contracting Out Public Services

T2 - Evidence from a Quasi-experiment in Danish Municipalities

AU - Foged, Søren Kjær

PY - 2015

Y1 - 2015

N2 - What is the causal relationship between population size and the contracting out of public service delivery in local governments? The size of the population of a given municipality has long been thought to be an important driver of contracting out public service delivery, which theoretically streamlines public service production and saves taxpayers’ money. This article makes use of the 2007 Danish local government structural reform—when 239 municipalities were merged into 66 new entities while 29 municipalities remained untouched—as a quasi-experiment to explore the population size/contracting out relationship. Results show that the relationship differs across policy sectors: It is negative for services with high fixed costs, presumably due to scale economies, and is positive for services that are difficult to measure, probably due to more administrative and technical capacity in larger municipalities. Also, the effect of population size is positive for tasks in free-choice markets, presumably because private contractors find large free-choice markets more attractive.

AB - What is the causal relationship between population size and the contracting out of public service delivery in local governments? The size of the population of a given municipality has long been thought to be an important driver of contracting out public service delivery, which theoretically streamlines public service production and saves taxpayers’ money. This article makes use of the 2007 Danish local government structural reform—when 239 municipalities were merged into 66 new entities while 29 municipalities remained untouched—as a quasi-experiment to explore the population size/contracting out relationship. Results show that the relationship differs across policy sectors: It is negative for services with high fixed costs, presumably due to scale economies, and is positive for services that are difficult to measure, probably due to more administrative and technical capacity in larger municipalities. Also, the effect of population size is positive for tasks in free-choice markets, presumably because private contractors find large free-choice markets more attractive.

KW - Faculty of Social Sciences

KW - contracting out

KW - privatization

KW - local governments

KW - quasi-experiment

KW - sector-specific

KW - jurisdiction size

KW - population size

U2 - 10.1177/1078087415591288

DO - 10.1177/1078087415591288

M3 - Journal article

VL - 52

SP - 348

EP - 390

JO - Urban Affairs Review

JF - Urban Affairs Review

SN - 1078-0874

IS - 3

M1 - 3

ER -

ID: 140860021