Does corruption and the institutional characteristics of the contracting authorities affect the execution of healthcare infrastructures?: An empirical investigation for Italy. Issue 2 (4th June 2018) - Cavalieri, Marina
Abstract : Purpose: This paper aims at contributing to the research on the role played by corruption in the health procurement by use non-parametric techniques to examine whether the efficient execution of Italian public contracts for healthcare infrastructures is affected by socio-economic variables (including the level of "environmental" corruption) in the area where the work is localised and by the institutional features of the contracting authority. Design/methodology/approach: A data envelopment analysis (DEA) is applied to a sample of 405 contracts during the period 2000-2005. Smoothed bootstrap techniques to calculate confidence intervals for the estimated efficiency parameters along with different non-parametric tests and kernel density estimates are used. Findings: Results show that "environmental" corruption negatively influences the performance of healthcare infrastructures. Furthermore, healthcare contracting authorities appear to be less efficient than other public bodies acting as procurers. Originality/value: The paper highlights the role of environmental corruption in the provision of healthcare infrastructures.