Privatization of local services has increased in the developed countries since the early eighties. The spread of the privatization movement is grounded in the fundamental belief that 1) market competition in the private sector is a more efficient way to provide government services and allows for greater citizen choice, and 2) Private production is more efficient than public production. Both of these assumptions are subject to criticism - both from a theoretical and an empirical point.

In the last decades, many analytical efforts have been devoted to study the theoretical foundations as well as the empirical evidence on local privatization, thus analyzing the factors explaining the privatization decision, as well as the economic results from privatization. Empirical studies do not provide clear evidence on the costs and benefits of privatization. Moreover, in practice, concerns about service quality, social equity, and employment conditions raise skepticism of privatization.

TOPICS:
Within this general framework, the key themes for the special issue are the following ones:
- Theoretical underpinnings for local privatization.
- Factors explaining the decision to privatize.
- Economic consequences of privatization: Form of production and costs.
- Monitoring activities and contracting costs as a consequence of privatization.
- Privatization, market concentration and competition.
- Alternatives to privatization.
- Reverse privatization
- Concerns with meeting wider government obligations to citizens (public service) which can be undermined in the market delivery process.
- The suppression of compulsory competitive tendering in the UK in 1998. Causes and consequences.


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