ABSTRACT

Voucher markets where governments subsidise the consumers of public services to give them a free choice of service provider are implemented by public authorities as a means to reap the supposed benefits of competition and choice. Such voucher markets imply economic costs for the public authority in the form of transaction costs, e.g., for preparation of quality standards and information material as well as approval, coordination and supervision of providers. However, voucher markets may also affect the public authority’s production costs through a competitive pressure for increased efficiency and/or by affecting the potential economies of scale for public service delivery. This article shows that in a voucher market without price competition voucher markets increase the public production costs of delivering home help services. Specifically, the larger the share of elderly persons who choose a private provider, the higher the public costs of delivering practical home help.

摘要

政府机构通过凭证市场来补贴公共服务的消费者，让他们可以自由选择服务提供商，作为获得竞争和选择的所谓利益的一种手段。这种凭证市场意味着公共当局以交易成本的形式产生经济成本，例如，准备质量标准和信息材料以及对提供者的批准、协调和监督。然而，优惠券市场也可能影响公共当局的生产成本通过提高效率的竞争压力和/或影响公共服务提供的潜在规模经济。本文表明，在没有价格竞争的代金券市场中，代金券市场增加了提供家庭帮助服务的公共生产成本。具体而言，选择私人服务提供者的老年人比例越大，提供实际家庭帮助的公共成本就越高。