Evaluating Reforms of Local Public and Social Services in Europe

This book explains the increasing demand for evaluation as a result of the increasing frequency of reforms to local services, influenced by the New Public Management doctrine, the severe austerity policy in many European countries, and the wish to increase quality and reduce costs of public services, especially at the local (sub-national) level. Positioned at the interface of local services and evaluation research, it will enable the utilization of evaluation-generated knowledge in evidence-based policy making by focusing on the lessons learned from evaluation of local service delivery. It encompasses local public and social services (including waste, water, public transport, healthcare, education and eldercare) and examines the hypothesis that there is a North-West-South-East divide in Europe in terms of the evaluation of local service reforms. Particular attention is devoted to the explanatory function of evaluation. Providing fresh insight into the functioning of local government machinery in contemporary Europe, this book will appeal in particular to practitioners and students of local government, public economy, public administration and policy.

This book explains the increasing demand for evaluation as a result of the increasing frequency of reforms to local services, influenced by the New Public Management doctrine, the severe austerity policy in many European countries, and the wish to increase quality and reduce costs of public services, especially at the local (sub-national) level. Positioned at the interface of local services and evaluation research, it will enable the utilization of evaluation-generated knowledge in evidence-based policy making by focusing on the lessons learned from evaluation of local service delivery. It encompasses local public and social services (including waste, water, public transport, healthcare, education and eldercare) and examines the hypothesis that there is a North-West-South-East divide in Europe in terms of the evaluation of local service reforms. Particular attention is devoted to the explanatory function of evaluation. Providing fresh insight into the functioning of local government machinery in contemporary Europe, this book will appeal in particular to practitioners and students of local government, public economy, public administration and policy.

1: Evaluating Reforms of Local Public and Social Services in Europe; Ivan Kopric, Hellmut Wollmann.- 2: Regulatory Impact Assessment and Sub-National Governments; Gerard Marcou, Anamarija Musa.- 3: Less Plato and More Aristotle: Empirical Evaluation of Public Policies in Local Services; Germà Bel.- 4: The Politics of Evaluation in Performance Management Regimes in English Local Government; Martin Laffin.- 5: Evaluating Personal Social Services in Germany; Hellmut Wollmann, Frank Bönker.- 6: Healthcare Marketization in Spain: The Case of Madrid's Hospitals; José M. Alonso, Judith Clifton, Daniel Díaz-Fuentes.- 7: The Institutionalisation of Performance Scrutiny Regimes and Beyond: The Case of Education and Elderly Care in Sweden; Stig Montin, Vicki Johansson, Lena Lindgren.- 8: The Organization of Local Education in Poland: An Evaluative Approach to the Outsourcing Model; Lukasz Mikula, Marzena Walaszek.- 9: Reforming Local Service Delivery by Contracting Out? Evaluating the Experience of Danish Road and Park Services; Kurt Houlberg, Ole Helby Petersen.- 10: The Efficiency of Local Service Delivery: The Czech Republic and Slovakia; Jana Soukopová, Beata MikuSová Mericková, Juraj Nemec.- 11: Effects of External Agentification in Local Government: A European Comparison of Municipal Waste Management Harald Torsteinsen, Marieke van Genugten, Lukasz Mikula, Carla Puiggrós Mussons, Esther Pano Puey.- 12: The Emergence of Water Public Services Performance Evaluation in France; Pierre Bauby, Mihaela Similie.- 13: Evaluation of Delivery Mechanisms in Water Supply Industry - Evidence from Slovenia; Primoz Pevcin, Iztok Rakar.- 14:Apprentice Sorcerers. Evaluating the Program Theory of Regulatory Governance in Italian Public Utilities; Giulio Citroni, Marco Di Giulio, Maria Tullia Galanti, Andrea Lippi, Stefania Profeti.- 15: Evaluation of Decentralisation Programme in Croatia: Expectations, Problems, and Results; Ivan Kopric, Vedran Ðulabic.- 16: Evaluating the Impact of Decentralization on Local Public Management Modernization in Croatia; Jasmina Dzinic, Romea Manojlovic.- 17: Evaluation of an Anti-Monopolist Program in Hungarian Public Utilities; Tamás M. Horváth.- 18: Metropolitan Municipality Reform: Rescaling Of Municipal Service Delivery in Turkey; Yeseren Eliçin.- 19: Policy Evaluation Capacity in the Greek Local Government: Formal Implementation and Substantial failures; Theodore N. Tsekos, Athanasia Triantafyllopoulou.- 20: Lessons Learned from Successful and Unsuccessful Local Public and Social Services Delivery Reforms; Ivan Kopric.