The (Insignificant) Effects of Privatisation on Healthcare Staffing Levels and Other Healthcare Metrics

This paper sets out to investigate what effects healthcare privatisation has on healthcare staffing levels and other healthcare metrics in regional Swedish healthcare. Using econometric techniques and relying on public data of public healthcare spending on private actors as a proportion of total regional healthcare spending, this paper finds that privatisation in general has no significant effects on regional healthcare. The paper calls first and foremost for more and better data to be released to the public. It also calls for future research to rely more heavily on proper controls and cross-regional analysis, as these were important factors in terms of this study’s results. Lastly, it discusses the implications for policy makers, concluding that as long as no decisive answers to the vices and virtues regarding privatisation will be found, the debate will likely continue to be drawn along ideological lines in the future.