The paper discusses possible interpretations of the fall of the public enterprise in the economic ideology of the European left-wing parties. The first section rejects the claim that a technological shift has weakened the case for the nationalization of natural monopolies. Economies of scale in...

In this paper I propose a definition of 'Citizenship goods'. Standard microeconomics distinguishes between purely private, purely public and mixed goods, based on the degree of non-rivalry and excludability. This is however a definition based on technical features of the goods that fails to...

This paper offers a review and discussion of the evidence concerning the underpricing and long run performance of British PIPOs (Privatisation Initial Public Offerings) between 1977-1996, i.e. from the first privatisation under a Labour Government (British Petroleum), until the last ones by a...

This paper analyses of some the key aspects of public expenditure policy in Denmark. The public expenditure to GDP ratio has abated markedly since the mid-1990s, reflecting both cyclical gains and the return on structural reforms. Nevertheless, the underlying upward pressure on government...

Given heterogeneity in incomes and health risks, with asymmetric information in the latter, preferences over the public-private mix in health insurance and care are derived. Results concerning crowding-out in the presence of adverse selection are established. For low-risk individuals,...

What is the best way to deliver various goods and services in the advanced complex economy? What is the appropriate division of labor among the state, the private for-profit, and the nonprofit sectors? This paper explores these questions relative to the well-being of consumers, and offers a set...

Uppsatsen dokumenterar den offentliga sektorns utveckling och inriktning. Det framgår att sektorn expanderat i stort sett oavbrutet under 1900-talet, från cirka 10 procent av BNP vid seklets början till 70 procent 1993. Trots en viss tillbakagång sedan 1993 har Sverige idag de högsta...

Los programas sociales en el Perú han sido objeto de muchas críticas en cuanto a su focalización, tanto medida como la proporción de la población pobre que se beneficia de los programas, como la proporción del presupuesto que se gasta en esta población. Con el objetivo de conocer el por...

Economists' policy advice is based on models of responses by a variety of economic entities to policy adoptions. There is compelling evidence that these entities do not optimize in at all the fashion that mainstream economics assumes. Rather, they limit decision-making to solving problems of...

Most of the tax competition literature focuses on the provision of local public services to households. However, a number of papers, dating back to Zodrow and Mieszkowski (1986), analyze tax competition when capital taxes are used to finance local public services provided to businesses,...