Public management reforms of the last decades increased the competition between the public and the private sector and challenged formerly standardised and collective public personnel policies. Based on expert interviews, this paper explores the impact of competition on public personnel policies...

This article explores the diverging roles of leftwing parties and trade unions in determining active labor market program (ALMP) spending. We argue that unions today increasingly take into account the distinct re-employability worries of their members. Rather than as a labor market outsider...

Policymakers generally have powerful incentives to attract votes by strategically manipulating public policies, for instance by increasing public spending during election periods or by implementing ideologically valued policies for their electoral base. At first sight, public theaters and...