Outsourcing of detention is a complex public task, due to quality risks from incomplete contracts, the public responsibility for sentencing and execution, and related social opinions. In the Netherlands, the debate about the outsourcing of prison services to the private profit sector has...

Municipalities may have various motives for decisions on the mode of their task execution. Empirical studies – based on both public choice and transaction costs theory - have not yet provided a fully comprehensive explanation for municipal contracting out decisions. Therefore, we held...

In member states of the European Union, the current VAT treatment of activities of public authorities creates significant distortions in their decisionmaking between public provision and contracting out of public services. In several EU-member states, a refund of VAT to local governments...