When considering issues of measuring welfare beyond gross domestic product (GDP), a key ongoing, but unfinished, agenda concerns how to measure the outputs of goods and services which are "free at the point of delivery". Public services such as schools and health services are major examples of...

Civil servants have a reputation for being lazy. However, people's personal experiences with civil servants frequently run counter to this stereotype. We develop a model of an economy in which workers differ in laziness and in public service motivation, and characterise optimal incentive...

The report analyzes the impact of the global financial crisis on public services delivery in education and healthcare. The analysis has been undertaken from the macro-perspective. Pre-crisis and crisis economic developments are outlined and fiscal accounts developments are presented. The...

This paper reviews some issues relevant to the delivery of public services. Itreviews some of the debates and flags some issues that are significantworldwide, especially in Africa. It emphasises how the debate has movedalong in terms of defining the relative responsibilities of the public...

The report analyzes the impact of the global financial crisis on public services delivery in education and healthcare. The analysis has been undertaken from the macro-perspective. Pre-crisis and crisis economic developments are outlined and fiscal accounts developments are presented. The...

When the public provision of private goods is partial rather than universal, public supply may be supplemented by the entry of private firms in the market for the private good. The main purpose of this paper is to explore whether partial public provision helps or hinders aggregate access to the...