Abstract
In European welfare states, the public sector plays an essential role in financing and organizing social service provision. Increasingly, however, markets for social services are infiltrated by private capital. Private Equity funds (PE) and Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) have become highly involved in the elderly care home and social housing markets. In the last decade, European policymakers have stimulated this trend. Yet, the governance implications of private capital in public services are not well understood. In this research, I study whether and how private capital affects (a) the public accountability of public service providers to democratic institutions and (b) the executive capacity of government to implement policies in public services. I will contribute to privatization, financialization, and hybrid governance literature. I study the impact of private capital on the care home and social housing market using a macro-meso-micro approach. This allows me to study how big market trends (macro) influence the day-to-day service delivery of providers (micro) through social mechanisms at the sector level (meso). The research design is a combination of document analysis and interviews. With this research, I aim to contribute to governance strategies that consider both opportunities and risks of involving private capital in public services.
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