@article{Riviere-Cinnamond:23786,
      recid = {23786},
      author = {Riviere-Cinnamond, Ana},
      title = {A Public Choice Approach to the Economic Analysis of  Animal Healthcare Systems},
      address = {2004},
      number = {855-2016-56213},
      series = {PPLPI Working Paper No. 11},
      pages = {38},
      year = {2004},
      abstract = {Privatisation of animal healthcare systems in developing  countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, has had very  limited success. Introduced with inadequate transition time  and too few resources, many livestock owners either cannot  afford or, just as likely, are unable to gain access to the  services they need. Poor livestock owners in remote rural  areas suffer the greatest disadvantage. This fact is  undisputed but, since privatisation, the primary focus has  been on analysing the performance of animal healthcare  systems and few authors have studied the underlying  economic theories that have driven privatisation policy nor  examined in what ways these may have been  detrimental.

This working paper examines how the economic  analysis of animal health services has evolved since the  '90s. A comparison is made with economic theories  underlying the provision of human healthcare services where  the debate started much earlier (in the '60s). Special  emphasis is put on how these perspectives have influenced  privatisation policy and, in particular, based in general  economic literature, how the way in which 'public goods' is  defined affects their financing and provision. Following  this perspective, the role that governments should expect  to play in the animal healthcare sector post privatisation  is also debated. 

A relatively new approach to the  economic analysis of animal health services is therefore  presented, one that has been propounded recently by a  number of economists working in this field. This economic  theory, based on the perspective of 'public choice' argues  that the process of decision-making may be highly  significant in influencing efficiency and effectiveness.  Traditional 'outcome' analysis omits factors such as  self-interested behaviour and political interference. These  may have contributed to higher than expected 'transaction'  costs and, therefore, to the failure in many instances of  the privatisation process. Given that much greater  attention than in the past should be paid to issues of  governance, governments in future may expect to act not  only as external agents with regulatory power but as part  of the nation's animal healthcare system with  responsibility for defining overall goals and harmonising  and facilitating the market economy.},
      url = {http://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/23786},
      doi = {https://doi.org/10.22004/ag.econ.23786},
}