The organisation of services of general interest in Finland

Abstract

Like in most other European countries, services of general interest in Finland have in recent years been subject to competition, increased private provision, and in some cases privatisation. This development is motivated by expected cost reductions, by EU regulations, by ideology and fashion, and in some cases also by a desire to generate sales revenues. Empirical evaluations have provided mixed results, but the relatively successful history of Finland's state enterprises makes it hard to believe that the public sector would be unable to organise SGI-services efficiently. A number of potential market failures suggest that renationalisation should be taken seriously as an alternative to regulation. This would not necessarily be a very radical policy, because public ownership is still fairly prominent among SGIs in Finland.