著者

金谷 信子

出版者

広島市立大学国際学部

雑誌

広島国際研究 = Hiroshima Journal of International Studies (ISSN:13413546)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.23, pp.43-60, 2017-11-30

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This paper examines the differences in behaviors between nonprofit providers and for-profit providers of Long-Term Care Services (LTCS) for the elderly in Japan by analyzing whether providers compromise on quality and engage in strategies to maximize profits. The quasi-market was introduced to improve the efficiency of the former public welfare service, which was limited to serving the public and nonprofit organizations. However, there is considerable doubt about LTCS's ability to balance the market mechanism with the fairness or equality of public services.Therefore, I examine the possibility of service quality compromises and the tendency toward strategic behaviors, e.g., the selection of users and service locations, economies of scale, and economies of scope. The results indicate the service quality of nonprofit providers may be better than that of for-profit providers. For-profit providers also seem to select profitable users and service locations and seek the scale and scope of economies more positively than nonprofit providers.