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The Other Le Grand? Evaluating the ‘Other Invisible Hand’ in Welfare Services in England
Author(s) -
Greener Ian,
Powell Martin
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
social policy and administration
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.972
H-Index - 63
eISSN - 1467-9515
pISSN - 0144-5596
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-9515.2009.00680.x
Subject(s) - competition (biology) , cornerstone , government (linguistics) , transaction cost , economics , work (physics) , public policy , social welfare , database transaction , welfare , public sector , public economics , competition policy , public administration , political science , market economy , microeconomics , economy , law , economic growth , engineering , mechanical engineering , art , ecology , linguistics , philosophy , programming language , computer science , visual arts , biology
Competition and choice have become central means of improving public services in England. The former adviser to the Blair government Julian Le Grand has suggested that increased choice and competition should be the cornerstone of policy that aims to deliver more responsive and fairer results for the public. This article explores Le Grand's claims, deploying the conditions earlier suggested by him to examine the conditions which ‘quasi‐markets will have to meet if they are to succeed as instruments of social policy’. Claims about the efficacy of choice and competition policies in 2007 are assessed against the earlier conditions of market structure, information, transaction costs, uncertainty, motivation and cream‐skimming, to examine the extent to which the reforms Le Grand has most recently proposed meet the conditions he earlier suggested would be necessary for markets to work in the public sector.