Outsourcing: the economic and social impacts
26th November 2003
Outsourcing – the ‘make or buy’ decision for private firms, and the contracting out of public sector activities to the private sector – has become a widespread trend. Outsourcing continues to raise controversial questions:
- does outsourcing provide real gains in efficiency or merely transfers of income and welfare?
- what factors are responsible for the increasing incidence of outsourcing?
- what criteria should be used to assess the costs and benefits?
- how has contracting out and privatization of supply affected performance and outcomes in particular industries like health services and employment placement?
- what has been the international experience?
A conference on the economic and social impacts of outsourcing will take place at the University of New South Wales on 4th and 5th December 2003, organised by the Centre for Applied Economic Research at UNSW.
Topics include:
Topics include:
- The union view of outsourcing (Adrian O’Connell, National Secretary, CPSU)
- Transfers and efficiency in outsourcing (John Quiggin, UQ)
- Outsourcing employment services: what have we learned from the Job Network? (Tony Eardly, Social Policy Research Centre, UNSW)
- Contracting with medical providers in NSW public hospitals (Elizabeth Savage, Jane Hall, Glenn Jones, Centre for Health Economics Research and Evaluation, UTS)
- Outsourcing and technological change (Elisabetta Magnani, UNSW)
- An internal labour market approach to assessing the gains from outsourcing (Trevor Stegman, UNSW)
- Outsourcing in the presence of competitors (Joshua Gans and Catherine de Fontenay, Melbourne Business School)
- An economic analysis of outsourcing under Japanese management systems (Hodaka Morita, UNSW).
What: Conference on the economic and social impacts of outsourcing
When: 4-5 December 2003 from 8.30am
Where: Rupert Myers Theatre, UNSW
Further information: Dr Kevin Fox, Director, Centre for Applied Economic Research, UNSW mob 0421 853 393, ph 9385 3320; Louisa Wright, UNSW Media unit, ph 9385 3644.
When: 4-5 December 2003 from 8.30am
Where: Rupert Myers Theatre, UNSW
Further information: Dr Kevin Fox, Director, Centre for Applied Economic Research, UNSW mob 0421 853 393, ph 9385 3320; Louisa Wright, UNSW Media unit, ph 9385 3644.
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