Seminar Series: To Make or Buy Public Entrepreneurship

To Make or Buy Public Entrepreneurship: A Synthetic Control Approach

Much of the New Institutional Economics literature suggests that public sector institutions will be inefficient entrepreneurs, incurring relatively high transaction costs than should lead to higher market frictions and lower revenues. Using a synthetic control approach, this study measures the marginal effect of privatizing public entrepreneurial endeavors by leveraging the privatization of a large public tech transfer enterprise. We find that privatization increased legal fees, and reduced income and entrepreneurial activity.

Jason Coupet is an Associate Professor of Public Management and Policy at the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies at Georgia State University. Jason’s Ph.D. is in Strategic Management from the University of Illinois at Chicago, and his BA in Economics from the University of Michigan. His research interests include strategic management, organizational economics, and the political economy of public service delivery, with a particular emphasis on efficiency.