Use of fees in the provision of public services in OECD countries

doi:10.1017/CBO9780511493508.007

6 - Use of fees in the provision of public services in OECD countries

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 22 September 2009

Carl Emmerson and

Howard Reed

Edited by

Torben M. Andersen and

Per Molander

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Carl Emmerson: Affiliation:
Programme Director of research on public finances and pensions Institute for Fiscal Studies, London
Howard Reed: Affiliation:
Programme Director of research on work and incomes Institute for Fiscal Studies, London
Torben M. Andersen: Affiliation:
Aarhus Universitet, Denmark
Per Molander: Affiliation:
Studieförbundet Näringsliv och Samhälle

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Summary

Introduction

Reform of public services is never far from the agenda in any OECD country with debates often focusing on the level of spending that should be done publicly. This has led to different countries varying widely in the degree to which they rely on private spending through charges and insurance for many services.

A first indication of the variation across countries is demonstrated in figure 6.1, which gives the percentage of GDP spent on items such as fees and charges. This varies from negligible amounts in countries such as Turkey, Japan, Belgium and Spain to around 3.7 per cent in Norway and Poland and 5.3 per cent in Switzerland. In fact this figure only tells part of the story since the organisation of the delivery of public services in many countries is arranged in such a way that any private payment is not received by the state, but instead by a private sector institution delivering the service.

This chapter focuses on the methods of funding four services – higher education, health care, long-term care and child care – across OECD countries.

Type: Chapter
Information: Alternatives for Welfare Policy
Coping with Internationalisation and Demographic Change
, pp. 131 - 166

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511493508.007 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2003

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