Howard Glennerster

Quasi-markets for Education?

The Education Reform Act I988 marked a decisive break in the tradition of administering education policy in the United Kingdom. Whereas the post war statutes, notably the I944 Education Act, fused finance and provision the Act of I988 separated those functions and introduced elements of a market type mechanism into UK education. (For an outline of the legislation and the principles it embodies see Glennerster, Power and Travers, I99I.) On March 23 I99I the Economist urged Americans to adopt a similar set of reforms. If the present Conservative Government is returned to power the principles will be extended further. These changes contain some, but only some, elements of an internal market for education within the state education system. Two separate sets of reforms are being implemented, one relates to schools, the other to higher education.

Human services and the voluntary sector: towards a theory of comparative advantage

This article explores whether human service organisations in the voluntary sector possess characteristics which might assure them of possible comparative advantages over the for-profit and public sectors with respect to certain sorts of users. We argue that there are inherent structural characteristics of organisations in each sector (for example, ownership, stakeholders and resources) which predispose them to respond more or less sensitively to different states of ‘disadvantage’ experienced by their users. These states are defined as financial, personal, societal and community disadvantage. We suggest that voluntary organisations have a comparative advantage over other sector agencies in areas where their distinctive ambiguous and hybrid structures enable them to overcome problems of principal–agent gap, median voter reluctance, weak messages from politicians to staff and lack of market interest. By taking ideas of comparative advantage into account, a coherent case can be developed regarding the strengths and weaknesses of the expanded role of voluntary agencies in welfare provision. In essence, the article contends that a diminution in stakeholder ambiguity, resulting from organisational growth, lowers the comparative advantage of voluntary agencies.

What do we know about fundholding in general practice

The general practice fundholding scheme was introduced four years ago. So far its impact has not been formally evaluated nationally, but review of published research shows some trends. Fundholding has curbed prescribing costs and given general practitioners greater power to lever improvements in hospital services--for example, reducing waiting times for hospital treatment--but fundholding practices may have received more money than non-fundholding practices. The impact of fundholding on transactions costs, equity, and quality of care (particularly for patients of non-fundholding general practitioners) is unknown. Research into costly reforms such as fundholding needs to be coordinated.

United States Poverty Studies and Poverty Measurement: The Past Twenty‐Five Years

This article discusses the contribution American social scientists have made to the study of poverty over the past 25 years as viewed from a comparative perspective. It has two parts. The first concentrates on the measurement of poverty and the fact that the U.S. poverty line remained fundamentally unchanged in that period despite increasingly important deficiencies in the way it was calculated. The second analyzes the broadened scope of U.S. research on the causes of poverty and its growing impact on poverty policy far beyond the United States.

The development of quasi-markets in welfare provision in the United Kingdom.

In the late 1980s, governments in many western economies began to introduce competition between public agencies providing health, education, and other forms of social welfare. Government became a contracting agency separating funding from provision. The United Kingdom went farthest in legislation passed between 1988 and 1990. The authors review some possible explanations for this fundamental change. The article draws on public choice theory and broader political science approaches and reviews the evidence on the impact of the changes. The gains from these changes may be small, and the result may be only the build up of pressure for more spending in the longer term.

A new era for social policy: a new enlightenment or a new leviathan?

A succession of Acts of Parliament passed between 1988 and 1990 mark the most decisive break in British social policy since the period between 1944 and 1948. This paper examines the extent to which common principles underlie this legislation. One of the most important common elements has been the reduction in the powers of local government and in the presumption that local authorities should be the main providers of social welfare outside the social security system. Schools, housing estates and social care services are to be given greater powers to run themselves or to become separate organisations. Local authorities are to use their resources to fund and contract with external agencies. The possible outcomes of this change in governance are discussed.

Regional Rates of Return to Education and Training in Britain

BENNETT R., GLENNERSTER H. and NEVISON D. (1995) Regional rates of return to education and training in Britain, Reg. Studies 29, 279-295. Using a structural utility-maximizing human capital model of the post-16 education and training decision, the paper explores rates of return and lifetime earnings that might influence an individuals decision to participate in post-compulsory education and training. The paper presents ex ante regional rates of return to post-16 further and higher education using information from the General Household Survey in Britain. Based on the empirical results, implications for education and training policy are drawn. The model demonstrates that there are important differences between expected rates of return to the same qualification in different regions. These returns are influenced by the regional labour market and are likely to have important influences on the incentives of individuals to pursue education or to train. The paper also demonstrates the generally low level of diff...

Wealth in the UK: distribution, accumulation, and policy

This book examines key issues connected with the distribution of personal wealth in the UK. It studies why wealth is now such an important factor in social differences and public policy. It presents the most recent information on current wealth inequalities and a detailed discussion of trends in the distribution of wealth. It uses newly available data to compare wealth inequalities in the UK with the USA, Canada, and Sweden. It uses longitudinal data, which track the same people over time, to examine trajectories in wealth accumulation over the decade to 2005 and inequalities in inheritances over the same period. It looks at how parental wealth levels and peoples asset-holdings early in adulthood affect outcomes later in their lives. The final part looks at the way in which policies towards wealth-holding developed historically, and the contradictory ways in which a wide range of public policies relate to peoples wealth levels, including through taxation, means-testing, and the encouragement of saving, and discusses what the key issues for policy towards wealth and wealth inequalities now are. Personal wealth in the UK totalled L5.5 trillion by 2010 (L9-10 trillion if occupational pension rights are included). Inheritance flows are now equivalent to 4 per cent of national income each year. All households in the wealthiest tenth have more than 75 times the wealth of any of those in the bottom tenth. Absolute differences in wealth levels have increased substantially over the last 15 years, so wealth differences represent many more years of income than in the past. This makes them of great importance to life chances. This makes the book highly relevant for public policy, but also for academic and student understanding of a crucial dimension of social difference. As well as bringing together existing information on the area, the book contains considerable new analysis on wealth inequality, inheritance, and their impacts, drawing on work which is at the forefront of recent research. Contributors to this volume - John Hills John Hills and Francesca Bastagli Frank Cowell Francesca Bastagli and John Hills Eleni Karagiannaki and John Hills Abigail McKnight and Eleni Karagiannaki Howard Glennerster John Hills and Howard Glennerster John Hills and Howard Glennerster

Alternatives to Fundholding

The new Labour government in the United Kingdom is proposing to adapt the reforms begun by the last Thatcher government. In particular, it is proposing to abolish the most controversial element—general practitioner (GP) fundholding. It is looking for alternatives. The study reported here followed and evaluated several such schemes. While fundholders use their purchasing power directly to force change by threatening “exit” to another provider, other GPs have evolved ways of influencing decisions—enhancing their “voice.” The authors develop a theory to predict the conditions favoring the relative success of exit and voice strategies in health purchasing, and describe alternative GP-based purchasing schemes and the reasons they evolved in six sample districts. In four of these districts and eight practices in each, fundholding and non-fundholding GPs were then asked to describe their intentions and the outcomes of the purchasing process in which they had participated. Four specialties were taken as examples. The authors compare the relative success of fundholders and non-fundholders in achieving their objectives.

The UK health reforms: The fundholding experiment

In April 1991 the UK embarked on the most radical reforms of its health care system in 50 years. Unusually it employed two quite distinct models of quasi market reform. One made District Health Authorities the purchasers of hospital and community health services. The other gave family doctors the money to buy these services on behalf of their patients. This latter model was the most radical part of the NHS reforms. This paper reports on a project that has monitored the family doctor fundholding scheme in detail.