We investigate a bureaucratic principal responsible for the procurement of goods and services from private agents. The bureaucrat is evaluated on output and controlled by a limited budget. The agents maximize profit, have private information about variable production costs, and have positive...

In Denmark, many small-scale forest owners are affiliated to local district offices of The Danish Forestry Extension Service. Increasing economic pressure has caused a search for more efficiency in the Service, including potential reorganisation. In this paper, the efficiency of the different...

In Denmark, many small-scale forest owners are affiliated to local district offices of The Danish Forestry Extension Service. Increasing economic pressure has caused a search for more efficiency in the Service, including potential reorganisation. In this paper, the efficiency of the different...

Focusing in particular on upper secondary education, this paper examines whether the relatively high level of expenditure on education in the Nordic countries is matched by high output from the educational sector, both in terms of student enrolment and indicators of output quality in the form of...

We characterize optimal investment and compensation strategies in a model of an investment opportunity with managerial incentive problems, caused by asymmetric information over investment costs and the manager's desire to consume slack, and flexibility over the timing of its acceptance. The...

Health care provision is undergoing major reforms in Europe as a reaction to rapidly increasing expenditure and lowered political acceptance to commit public finance to cover the deficits. The Dutch government will decide in 2007 if the current budget system will be replaced by a more...