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.

中文翻译：

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公共服务外包：可收缩性，成本和质量

我们回顾了有关公共部门外包的文献，以探讨不完全合同文献中的理论预测是否符合最新的经验证据。在理论的指导下，我们根据可收缩性问题的类型和严重程度来安排服务。实证研究指出，在成本和质量方面，没有严重承包问题的服务外包效果相当不错。对于合同问题更为棘手的服务而言，情况则好坏参半，证据的分量偏重于公共提供。服务之间的这种差异在很大程度上符合产权框架和不完整合同的理论。