Competition and educational quality: Evidence from the Netherlands

Ample evidence is available for the effect of competition on educational quality as only a few countries allow large scale competition. In the Netherlands free parental choice is present since the beginning of the 20th century, which can be characterized as a full voucher program with 100% funding. Based on panel data for the Netherlands we show that there is a relation between competition and educational outcomes in secondary education, but that it is negative and small. This effect is larger for small and medium sized schools and for schools which do not have a Protestant or Catholic denomination

Industrie- en dienstenbeleid: een nadere verdieping

In dit onderzoek wordt een overzicht gegeven van de wetenschappelijke stand van zaken op het gebied van het industrie- en dienstenbeleid. In dat kader komt een drietal verschillende invalshoeken aan de orde, namelijk een internationale vergelijking van de beleidspraktijk, het debat over 'competitiveness' en het onderscheidende karakter van industrie- en dienstenbeleid. Om te beginnen wordt de beleidspraktijk van een aantal OESO-landen nader bekeken. Uit deze vergelijking komt naar voren dat in de ge?ndustrialiseerde wereld grofweg drie typen industriebeleid onderscheiden kunnen worden: het Angelsaksische, Rijnlandse en Mediterrane model. Traditioneel verschillen deze prototypen sterk van elkaar wat betreft doelstellingen, instrumenten, institutionele vormgeving en aandachtspunten in het beleid. Toch lijkt er momenteel sprake te zijn van een zekere mate van beleidsconvergentie. Zo is het industrie- en dienstenbeleid van veel landen tegenwoordig gericht op het versterken van de 'competitiveness' van de nationale economie. Van dit begrip bestaat echter geen eenduidige definitie. Sommige auteurs brengen het concurrentievermogen van een land in verband met exogene comparatieve voordelen, terwijl anderen wijzen op het belang van endogeen bepaalde competitieve voordelen. Binnen de laatste stroming verschilt men bovendien van mening of het landen of juist bedrijven zijn die met elkaar concurreren. Deze verschillende stromingen komen ieder tot een andere invulling van het begrip industriebeleid. Tenslotte wordt in het voorliggende onderzoeksrapport aandacht geschonken aan het specifieke karakter van industrie- en dienstenbeleid ten opzichte van andere vormen van overheidsbeleid. Een belangrijk aspect hierbij is dat veelal getracht wordt met behulp van industriebeleid bepaalde vormen van marktfalen te corrigeren. Gezien het feit dat het niet mogelijk is een pasklaar antwoord te geven op de vraag wat industrie- en dienstenbeleid nu feitelijk inhoudt, worden verschillende kennislacunes gesignaleerd. Het onderzoek wordt afgesloten met een aantal vragen die in vervolgonderzoek beantwoord zouden moeten worden

Is there still collusion in the Dutch waste collection market?

Concentration indexes based on regional markets show that the Dutch market for refuse collection is highly concentrated in 2002 and 2010. Similar to earlier work in 2007, the results indicate some evidence that high concentration increases costs and therefore (partly) offsets the advantage of contracting out. In 2002, results with respect to concentration are somewhat less robust. In 2010, the cost-advantage effect of private provision becomes smaller. However, for this year, we have a stronger indication that the cost advantage of private provision depends negatively on regional concentration measured by the Hirschman–Herfindahl Index

School Choice and Competition

The literature suggests that competition among schools might increase quality. However, not much empirical evidence is present as only a few countries allow competition at a large scale. One exception is the Netherlands. Free parental choice is the leading principle of the Dutch education system since the beginning of the 20th century. Based on panel data for the Netherlands we show that there is a relation between competition and student achievement in upper secondary education, but that it is negative. In addition, private schools have higher quality levels

Collusion in the Dutch waste collection market

In this paper we analyse whether collusion exists in the Dutch waste collection market, which shows a high degree of concentration. Although scale effects might be in accordance with this market outcome, the question is whether this concentration is in fact a result of fair competition. Using data for (nearly) all Dutch municipalities we estimate whether collusion exists and what the impact is on tariffs for waste collection. The results indicate that high concentration increases prices and therefore (partly) offsets the advantage of contracting out. The presence of competing public firms might be essential to ensure more and fair competition.Waste collection, collusion, public-private firms, contracting out

Deviations in influenza seasonality: odd coincidence or obscure consequence?

AbstractIn temperate regions, influenza typically arrives with the onset of colder weather. Seasonal waves travel over large spaces covering many climatic zones in a relatively short period of time. The precise mechanism for this striking seasonal pattern is still not well understood, and the interplay of factors that influence the spread of infection and the emergence of new strains is largely unknown. The study of influenza seasonality has been fraught with problems. One of these is the ever-shifting description of illness resulting from influenza and the use of both the historical definitions and new definitions based on actual isolation of the virus. The compilation of records describing influenza oscillations on a local and global scale is massive, but the value of these data is a function of the definitions used. In this review, we argue that observations of both seasonality and deviation from the expected pattern stem from the nature of this disease. Heterogeneity in seasonal patterns may arise from differences in the behaviour of specific strains, the emergence of a novel strain, or cross-protection from previously observed strains. Most likely, the seasonal patterns emerge from interactions of individual factors behaving as coupled resonators. We emphasize that both seasonality and deviations from it may merely be reflections of our inability to disentangle signal from noise, because of ambiguity in measurement and/or terminology. We conclude the review with suggestions for new promising and realistic directions with tangible consequences for the modelling of complex influenza dynamics in order to effectively control infection

Re-municipalization of public services: trend or hype?

Re-municipalization is part of a broader set of reverse privatization reforms. We argue the term re-municipalization lacks conceptual clarity and often confuses municipal level reversals from national ones, new service delivery from reversals, and mixed market positions (such as corporatization) from full public control. This conceptual confusion makes measurement of re-municipalization difficult. While more case studies are being discovered, studies based on quantitative time series do not show re-municipalization as an increasing trend. Much case study based research argues re-municipalization is politically transformative, but quantitative research generally finds re-municipalization to be part of a pragmatic market management process, a position confirmed by the papers in this special issue

Subthreshold PTSD and PTSD in a prospective‐longitudinal cohort of military personnel: Potential targets for preventive interventions

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/146501/1/da22819_am.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/146501/2/da22819.pd