Market testing is evaluated in the context of market-type mechanisms, for the efficiency gains it achieves. It has been part of public policy in the UK since 1979, and mandatory for defined support services, first in central government departments, then in the National Health Service and finally...

This paper estimates the impact of competitive tendering on cleaning costs in Scottish "National Health Service" hospitals. Unlike previous studies, which have relied on cross-sectional data, a five-year balanced panel of 176 hospitals is used to estimate a series of fixed effects regression...

This paper examines the impact of live television coverage on attendance at Scottish Premier League soccer matches during the 2002—2003 season. The authors exploit a rich data set which distinguishes match-day attendance into three groups: season ticket holders, pay-at-the-gate home team...

In this paper we examine financial interactions between tiers of government. Whilst most existing empirical evidence has focused on the US, it is difficult to generalize conclusions obtained to countries where the position and remit of lower tiers of government is evolving or is less clear...

Fiscal consolidations, episodes where governments make large discretionary improvements in their fiscal positions, have received considerable attention, especially in EMU. The existing literature demonstrates that the composition of consolidations is a crucial determinant of their success. We...

This paper contributes to the established literature on fiscal consolidations by investigating the distinct behaviour of central and sub-central tiers of government during general government consolidation attempts. In the light of different degrees of decentralisation across OECD countries, and...