Consumer Policy and Market Norms: Routes of socioeconomic development abstracted from literature concerning consumer fraud and product safety (Japanese)

Abstract

In recent years, the evaluation of the public-private partnership (PPP) has been an important issue in discussions relating to public service reform. The increasing trend of an overwhelming number of public services being provided through the private sector lies in the government's traditional approach of outsourcing. Meanwhile, new methods of using the private sector such as the private finance initiative (PFI), the designated manager system, and market testing also draw attention, but it appears that the introduction of these methods into local governments is not always a smooth process. While an effort is being made to overcome the institutional restrictions and problems associated with the introduction of these initiatives, differing attitudes of local governments toward the promotion of PPPs seem to have a significant impact. This paper aims to analyze and evaluate PPPs from an empirical perspective, looking at the public services that the government outsourced to private companies in various forms and then deriving policy implications. This paper consists of the following four studies: I. Factors for promoting PPP in local governments (YAMAUCHI Naoto, ISHIDA Yu, OKUYAMA Naoko) II. Does government spending trigger private contributions? (MATSUNAGA Yoshiho, OKUYAMA Naoko) III. Evaluation of PPPs in home-visit nursing care services (SUZUKI Wataru, HOTTA Satoko) IV. Outsourcing of waste collection and factors for its promotion (IWATA Kenji)