IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/oup/oxford/v19y2003i2p301-322.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Formula Funding of Public Services: An Economic Analysis

Author

Listed:
  • Peter C. Smith

Abstract

This paper discusses the economic implications of distributing funds for devolved public services using mechanical formulae. The rationale for using such methods is that they will contribute to the increased efficiency and equity of public services. By acting as arbiters in complex bargaining situations, they also serve important political objectives. The principles of formula funding are examined from an economic perspective, using a production-function approach. As well as yielding major benefits, formula funding has the potential for introducing perverse incentives and risk-avoidance behaviour, particularly among smaller units such as schools and general practices. Strategies for avoiding adverse outcomes are discussed, and the broader political context within which formula funding operates is examined. The paper ends with an assessment of the priorities for future developments in formula funding. Copyright 2003, Oxford University Press.

Suggested Citation

  • Peter C. Smith, 2003. "Formula Funding of Public Services: An Economic Analysis," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 19(2), pages 301-322, Summer.
  • Handle: RePEc:oup:oxford:v:19:y:2003:i:2:p:301-322
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    To our knowledge, this item is not available for download. To find whether it is available, there are three options:
    1. Check below whether another version of this item is available online.
    2. Check on the provider's web page whether it is in fact available.
    3. Perform a search for a similarly titled item that would be available.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Schang, Laura & Hynninen, Yrjänä & Morton, Alec & Salo, Ahti, 2016. "Developing robust composite measures of healthcare quality – Ranking intervals and dominance relations for Scottish Health Boards," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 162(C), pages 59-67.
    2. Mihály Fazekas, 2012. "School Funding Formulas: Review of Main Characteristics and Impacts," OECD Education Working Papers 74, OECD Publishing.
    3. Guccio, Calogero & Mazza, Isidoro, 2014. "On the political determinants of the allocation of funds to heritage authorities," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 18-38.
    4. Somi Shin, 2021. "Healthcare provider response to payment system reform: evidence from New Zealand," SN Business & Economics, Springer, vol. 1(11), pages 1-29, November.
    5. Adam Oliver, 2005. "The English National Health Service: 1979‐2005," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 14(S1), pages 75-99, September.
    6. Nagy, Balázs, 2010. "Egy hiányzó láncszem?. Forráselosztás a magyar egészségügyben [Resource allocation in Hungarian health care - is there a missing link?]," Közgazdasági Szemle (Economic Review - monthly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Közgazdasági Szemle Alapítvány (Economic Review Foundation), vol. 0(4), pages 337-353.
    7. Peter Friedrich & Joanna Gwiazda & Chang Woon Nam, 2003. "Development of Local Public Finance in Europe," CESifo Working Paper Series 1107, CESifo.
    8. James Gallagher & Daniel Hinze, "undated". "Financing Options for Devolved Government in the UK," Working Papers 2005_24, Business School - Economics, University of Glasgow.
    9. Rob Ball & David King & David Eiser, 2012. "Assessing the Relative Health Care Spending Needs of the UK's Devolved Territories: A Scottish Perspective," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 30(2), pages 322-346, April.
    10. Gloria Agyemang, 2010. "Accounting for needs? Formula funding in the UK schools sector," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing, vol. 23(1), pages 82-110, January.

    More about this item

    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:oup:oxford:v:19:y:2003:i:2:p:301-322. 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.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using 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: Oxford University Press (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://academic.oup.com/oxrep .

    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.