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Productive Efficiency and Contract Management: Some Evidence From Public Transit Agencies

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  • David H. Good

    (Indiana University)

Abstract

This article examines a form of public production that contracts out the top Abstract management of the transit agency. This allows a test of Fama's conjecture that competition among managers, even when financial incentives are deferred, is sufficient to mitigate the principal-agency problem. Previous work has found little difference in cost and has concluded that the public versus contract management distinction is of little practical interest. This article demonstrates that, whereas total costs are similar, the input selection and input utilization decisions that lead to total cost are quite different between management types. This cost decomposition goes a long way toward describing how and why productive inefficiency occurs and what can be done to eliminate this inefficiency.

Suggested Citation

  • David H. Good, 1992. "Productive Efficiency and Contract Management: Some Evidence From Public Transit Agencies," Public Finance Review, , vol. 20(2), pages 195-215, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:pubfin:v:20:y:1992:i:2:p:195-215
    DOI: 10.1177/109114219202000204
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. James Peoples & Wayne Talley, 2002. "Privatization, City Residency, and Black-White Earnings Differentials: Evidence from the Public Transit Sector," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 21(3), pages 251-270, November.
    2. Marta Zieba & Carol Newman, 2012. "Organisational Structure and Managerial Efficiency: A quasi-experimental analysis of German public theatres," Working Papers WP032012, University of Limerick, Department of Economics, revised Oct 2012.

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