Theorising the dynamics of social service markets: risk, regulation and rent-seeking

This workshop brings together policy researchers from across the social sciences to theorise the dynamics of markets for publicly-funded social services in Australia. By using market instruments, governments have hoped to reduce costs, increase service diversity and, in some sectors, empower consumers. However, evidence suggests that Australian governments’ marketising efforts have produced fragile and fragmented service systems, in which risks of rent-seeking, resource leakage and regulatory capture are high. Using process-tracing in a multiple case design, this workshop aims to identify predictable risk factors for failure in social service markets, to inform service system (re)design in Australia.