Empirical evidence shows local government contracting is a dynamic process that includes movements from public delivery to markets and from market contracts back to in-house delivery. This ‘‘reverse contracting’’ reflects the complexity of public service provision in a world where market alternatives are used along with public delivery. We develop a methodology to link responses to national sur...

L i k e many libertarians, I used to accept without question the idea that contracting out for government services was a good idea. After all, it puts production back into the hands of relatively efficient private producers. However, after reviewing the literature o n contracting out for law enforcement services (Benson 1990, pp. 17999), I had some second thoughts, concluding that while contrac...

The existing problem in the construction industry, i.e. owner or client dissatisfaction in terms of prolonged delivery times, exceeded budgets and the non-attainment of quality standards. Real problems were substantiated by the emphasis on contractual responsibilities and risks. Construction investments are generally believed to be expensive. When contractual processes are in disarray, owners’ ...

The relation between smoking habits and the occurrence of spontaneous pneumothorax (SP) was studied in a Swedish population, predominantly urban. The study group consisted of a consecutive series of 138 patients admitted to Huddinge University Hospital over ten years for treatment of their first spontaneous pneumothorax. Their smoking habits were routinely analyzed. The sample consisted of 15,2...

When a group of investors with dispersed private information jointly invest in a risky project, how should they divide up the project payoff? A typical common stock contract rewards investors in proportion to their initial investment, but is it really optimal for harnessing all investors’ “wisdom of the crowd”? By showing that a simple profit-sharing contract with decentralized decision making ...

We consider the potential roles of formal logic in decision support systems for electronic contracting and so address the problem of representation of business process knowledge in a usable form when there are particular concerns of complexity, communicability and clarity.

The use of electronic contracts is emerging as a way to improve the efficiency of contracting processes. Electronic contracts are, however, often used as a direct replacement for traditional paper contracts – which we call shallow e-contracting. Consequently, business processes in general and contracting processes in particular do not change much through the use of electronic contracts. New bus...

The use of electronic contracts is emerging as a way to improve the efficiency of contracting processes. Electronic contracts are, however, often used as a direct replacement for traditional paper contracts – which we call shallow e-contracting. Consequently, business processes in general and contracting processes in particular do not change much through the use of electronic contracts. New bus...

Governments engage with the private sector in several ways, one of which is through contractual agreements to provide services to the population on the governments’ behalf (the process of ‘contracting out’). The importance, feasibility and effectiveness of this contracting process in the health sector is disputed, particularly in states where the government is unable to adequately deliver funda...