Abstract
Public service markets came to prominence during the New Public Management era, as governments around the world increasingly adopted market values and mechanisms. The development of these markets has been driven by multiple goals, including a desire to increase service quality and/or reduce service costs. This has been connected to a broader embrace of market values and a philosophical belief in smaller government. As public service markets have matured, more complex types of public services have come to be governed by market mechanisms. Two important concepts have emerged as governments have adopted these approaches: quasi-markets, which reflect the complexity of public service markets; and hybrids, which describe the organising structures that develop when markets, hierarchies, and netwroks interact. Understanding these developments helps explain the mixed results from public service markets, the ongoing critique of their adoption, but also some of the potential, often unexploited opportunities of market mechanisms.
Original language | English |
---|---|
Title of host publication | Elgar Encyclopedia of Public Management |
Editors | K. Schedler |
Place of Publication | UK |
Publisher | Edward Elgar Publishing Limited |
Pages | 365-369 |
Volume | 1 |
Edition | 1 |
ISBN (Print) | 978 1 80037 548 2 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2022 |