Corporatization and political ideology: the case of hospitals in Spain

Abstract

Corporatization-arguably as important as privatization regarding public service reform-remains an under-researched topic in Public Administration. In this paper, we explore the extent to which the implementation of different types of corporatization strategies can be explained by the ideology of the ruling party in the Spanish public healthcare sector, selected for study because this sector was subject to reform, particularly, decentralization and marketization. To do so, we use count-data regression models to analyze secondary data from the 17 Spanish regional governments for the period 2003-2017. Our estimates reveal that right-wing controlled regional governments exhibit a clear preference for corporatization strategies that actively involve the private sector, such as Public-Private Partnerships and Public Finance Initiatives. Further analysis suggests that left-wing governments are positively associated with the implementation of corporatization strategies that do not involve the private sector, such as the creation of Public Enterprises and Public Entities. These results are robust to a variety of alternative specifications.