Social Preferences for Public Provision of Services: Experimental Evidence from Latin America

Hernan Bejarano, Matías Busso and Juan Francisco Santos

No 14477, IDB Publications (Working Papers) from Inter-American Development Bank

Abstract: We study how individuals in six Latin American countries value public versus private provision of education and healthcare using a survey experiment. Respondents were randomly assigned to vignettes that vary income, service quality, and provider type. Perceived quality is the main driver of choices: the probability of selecting a private provider roughly doubles when public quality falls from 80 to 20 percent, while income has a smaller effect. Higher institutional trust lowers the likelihood of switching to private providers but does not affect willingness to pay once individuals choose private provision. The multi-country design supports external validity and reveals similar behavioral responses across contexts. The results show that improving service quality and rebuilding institutional trust can reduce reliance on private provision.

Keywords: Stated Preferences; willingness to pay; Public versus Private Provision; service quality (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D12 H42 I18 I21 O54 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026-01
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:idb:brikps:14477

DOI: 10.18235/0013905

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