Property rights and efficiency in communal services: The empirical evidence

The objective of this paper is to examine the main empirical contributions on the relationships between productive efficiency and proprietary forms in communal services. With this term we refer to with an activity focused on the supply of services to the person (in particular we will be interested to health services, education and child- and elder-care) and characterised by rather important externalities. In analyzing the role of proprietary forms, particular attention will be dedicated to a relatively new and emerging form, the private nonprofit organisation (NPO). The number, characteristics and economic weight of NPO’s is increasing fast in the OECD economies. In the US, it is estimated that over 1.5 million NPO’s account for 6.8% of total national income, and 11.4% of total employment (including voluntary workers) (data from the US Bureau Census, 2002). In 1995 this altruistic effort accounted for the average American for 4.2 hours/week. In Europe the nonprofit sector is still less developed than in the US, but is growing fast, especially in the field of communal services.