IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ehl/lserod/111521.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Effects of government contracting of services on NGOs in China: convergence and divergence with international experience

Author

Listed:
  • Enjuto Martinez, Regina
  • Qu, Yuanyuan
  • Howell, Jude

Abstract

The government of the Communist Party of China (CPC) rolled out a national policy to contract out social and welfare services to non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in 2013. This study explores how government contracting of services affects NGOs. We examine three areas: marketization, financial dependency, and autonomy. We find significant convergence of the effects of contracting on NGOs in China with NGOs’ experiences in liberal democratic countries, despite divergent political regimes. Found effects are explained by the combination of the authoritarian government of the CPC with the neoliberal governance structures introduced by contracting. Convergence with international experience despite divergent political regimes is attributed to the neoliberal essence of the policy of contracting of services.

Suggested Citation

  • Enjuto Martinez, Regina & Qu, Yuanyuan & Howell, Jude, 2022. "Effects of government contracting of services on NGOs in China: convergence and divergence with international experience," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 111521, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    • Handle: RePEc:ehl:lserod:111521
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/111521/
    File Function: Open access version.
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Paul H. Jensen & Robin E. Stonecash, 2005. "Incentives and the Efficiency of Public Sector‐outsourcing Contracts," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 19(5), pages 767-787, December.
    2. Domberger, Simon & Jensen, Paul, 1997. "Contracting Out by the Public Sector: Theory, Evidence, Prospects," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 13(4), pages 67-78, Winter.
    3. Linda J. Cook & Elena Iarskaia-Smirnova & Anna Tarasenko, 2021. "Outsourcing social services to NGOs in Russia: federal policy and regional responses," Post-Soviet Affairs, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(2), pages 119-136, March.
    4. Zhuoyi Wen, 2017. "Government Purchase of Services in China: Similar Intentions, Different Policy Designs," Public Administration & Development, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 37(1), pages 65-78, February.
    5. Edwards, Michael & Hulme, David, 1996. "Too close for comfort? the impact of official aid on nongovernmental organizations," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 24(6), pages 961-973, June.
    6. Yulia Skokova & Ulla Pape & Irina Krasnopolskaya, 2018. "The Non-profit Sector in Today’s Russia: Between Confrontation and Co-optation," Europe-Asia Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 70(4), pages 531-563, April.
    7. Howell, Jude, 2015. "Shall we dance? Welfarist incorporation and the politics of state-labour NGO relations in China," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 60219, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Bertacchini, Enrico & Dalle Nogare, Chiara, 2014. "Public provision vs. outsourcing of cultural services: Evidence from Italian cities," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 168-182.
    2. Marius Constantin PROFIROIU & Septimiu Rares SZABO, 2016. "Outsourcing vs decentralisation: A comparative analysis in Central and Eastern Europe," Eco-Economics Review, Ecological University of Bucharest, Economics Faculty and Ecology and Environmental Protection Faculty, vol. 2(2), pages 3-26, December.
    3. Andersson, Fredrik & Jordahl, Henrik, 2011. "Outsourcing Public Services: Ownership, Competition, Quality and Contracting," Working Paper Series 874, Research Institute of Industrial Economics.
    4. Gaetan de Rassenfosse & Kyle Higham, 2019. "Decentralising the Patent System," Working Papers 6, Chair of Science, Technology, and Innovation Policy.
    5. Jorge Guardiola & Francisco González-Gómez & Miguel A. García-Rubio, 2008. "Is the time dimension really important in research into contracting out?," FEG Working Paper Series 08/02, Faculty of Economics and Business (University of Granada).
    6. Juan Carlos Garrido-Rodríguez & Gemma Pérez-López & José Luis Zafra-Gómez & Diego Prior, 2018. "Estimación de la eficiencia a largo plazo en servicios públicos locales mediante fronteras robustas con datos de panel," Hacienda Pública Española / Review of Public Economics, IEF, vol. 226(3), pages 11-36, September.
    7. Alonso, José M. & Clifton, Judith & Díaz-Fuentes, Daniel, 2017. "The impact of government outsourcing on public spending: Evidence from European Union countries," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 39(2), pages 333-348.
    8. Fredrik Andersson & Henrik Jordahl & Jens Josephson, 2019. "Outsourcing Public Services: Contractibility, Cost, and Quality," CESifo Economic Studies, CESifo Group, vol. 65(4), pages 349-372.
    9. Amir HEFETZ & Mildred E. WARNER, 2010. "Dynamics of service provision: service, market and place characteristics," Departmental Working Papers 2010-33, Department of Economics, Management and Quantitative Methods at Università degli Studi di Milano.
    10. Jayne Elizabeth Bisman, 2008. "Australian Public-Sector Outsourcing in the ‘Golden Era’: Cost Savings Evidence or Anecdote?," Australian Accounting Review, CPA Australia, vol. 18(2), pages 108-122, June.
    11. Norimichi Matsueda & Jun’Ichi Miki, 2017. "Contracting-Out Of Household Waste Collection Services In Japan," The Singapore Economic Review (SER), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 65(02), pages 443-455, May.
    12. MacDonald, Peter, 2013. "Labour substitution and the scope for military outsourcing," MPRA Paper 46688, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    13. Peter Nunnenkamp & Hannes Öhler, 2012. "Funding, Competition and the Efficiency of NGOs : An Empirical Analysis of Non‐charitable Expenditure of US NGOs Engaged in Foreign Aid," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 65(1), pages 81-110, February.
    14. Germa Bel & Anton Costas, 2006. "Do Public Sector Reforms Get Rusty? Local Privatization in Spain," Journal of Economic Policy Reform, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 9(1), pages 1-24.
    15. Leonard, David K. & Bloom, Gerald & Hanson, Kara & O’Farrell, Juan & Spicer, Neil, 2013. "Institutional Solutions to the Asymmetric Information Problem in Health and Development Services for the Poor," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 71-87.
    16. Dreher, Axel & Nunnenkamp, Peter & Thiel, Susann & Thiele, Rainer, 2010. "Aid allocation by German NGOs: Does the degree of public refinancing matter?," University of Göttingen Working Papers in Economics 92, University of Goettingen, Department of Economics.
    17. Jean-Etienne de Bettignies & Thomas W. Ross, 2010. "The Economics of Public–Private Partnerships: Some Theoretical Contributions," Chapters, in: Graeme A. Hodge & Carsten Greve & Anthony E. Boardman (ed.), International Handbook on Public–Private Partnerships, chapter 7, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    18. Levine, Arielle, 2002. "Convergence or Convenience? International Conservation NGOs and Development Assistance in Tanzania," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 30(6), pages 1043-1055, June.
    19. Arnab Acharya & Melisa Martínez-Álvarez, 2012. "Aid Effectiveness in the Health Sector," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2012-069, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    20. Urquía-Grande, Elena & Estébanez, Raquel Pérez & Alcaraz-Quiles, Francisco José, 2022. "Impact of Non-Profit Organizations’ Accountability: Empirical evidence from the democratic Republic of Congo," World Development Perspectives, Elsevier, vol. 28(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    service contracting; welfare; NGOs; authoritarianism; China; ES/P001726/1; Springer deal;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • R14 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Land Use Patterns
    • J01 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - General - - - Labor Economics: General

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ehl:lserod:111521. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: LSERO Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/lsepsuk.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.