HCCG: Privately produced public services: Lessons from Sweden

Guest lecture by Professor Henrik Jordahl, Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN), Stockholm

Services provided by the Swedish welfare state rest on three pillars: tax financing, competition and freedom of choice between providers. Both competition and freedom of choice have been added in the last 25 years, and today most private providers are for-profit companies. How has the Swedish model developed? What are the consequences for education, health care and elderly care? And what are the prospects for the future?