Public Sector Policies
In many areas of life, people acquire goods and services not only on free markets, but also on markets which are regulated primarily by the state. This applies above all to the “public services” and/or “public goods” sectors. These services include all economic sectors in which free markets, according to general conviction, produce unsatisfactory results for the entire society. In these sectors, social and political standards are designed to prevent certain services from being provided in insufficient quantities or having services become too expensive to be paid for by large sections of society (e.g. education, health insurance). These standards determine the conditions under which goods and services indispensable for life can be acquired. Until the mid-1990s, for example, it was actually quite “normal” in Germany to be assigned a health insurance according to one’s occupational status. Today, it is normal for people to freely select their own insurance.
Public goods in this context include health care, public mass transit and intercity transportation as well as numerous municipal services including housing, education, and much more. The benefits citizens derive from all of these services depend on how governmental policies regulate the provision of the respective services through public or private industries and service providers. That is why the competition between service providers and/or industries assumes the important function of continuously increasing the quality and efficiency of their services.
IGES
- Analyzes existing rules and regulations
- Forecasts and examines the anticipated impact of reform models and/or future developments
- Develops procedures implementing political decisions and evaluates their impact
- Advises the respective stakeholders, whether it be ministries, associations, insurances and banks, enterprises, and organizations of patients and/or affected persons
Four approaches are particularly significant for the creation of efficient and effective high quality public services:
- Competition and Innovation
- Regulation
- Financing
- Participation
