Quasi-markets
Bartlett and Le Grand (1993) and Le Grand (2003) warned of cream-skimming, salient under NPM and workfare.
Evidence
Carter and Whitworth (2015), Rees et al. (2014), Koning and Heinrich (2013).
Causes and remedies
Heckman et al. (2002) echo Goodhart's law; Considine et al. (2011) show persistence.
FAQ
- What is it in simple terms?
- Helping easy cases for results while ignoring hard ones.
- Can it be prevented?
- Differential pay and minimum standards help only partly.
Sources reviewed: 2026-10-26
References
- Carter, E., & Whitworth, A. (2015). Creaming and parking in quasi-marketised welfare-to-work schemes: Designed out of or designed in to the UK Work Programme? Journal of Social Policy, 44(2), 277–296. Analyses whether creaming and parking were built into the UK Work Programme.
- Koning, P., & Heinrich, C. J. (2013). Cream-skimming, parking and other intended and unintended effects of high-powered, performance-based contracts. Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 32(3), 461–483. Dutch evidence on performance-based contracts' effects.
- Heckman, J. J., Heinrich, C., & Smith, J. (2002). The performance of performance standards. Journal of Human Resources, 37(4), 778–811. Shows performance measures can diverge from true impacts.
- Rees, J., Whitworth, A., & Carter, E. (2014). Support for all in the UK Work Programme? Differential payments, same old problem. Social Policy & Administration, 48(2), 221–239. Finds differential payments failed to prevent parking.
- Considine, M., Lewis, J. M., & O'Sullivan, S. (2011). Quasi-markets and service delivery flexibility following a decade of employment assistance reform in Australia. Journal of Social Policy, 40(4), 811–833. A decade of Australian employment-services quasi-markets.
- Le Grand, J. (2003). Motivation, agency, and public policy: Of knights and knaves, pawns and queens. Oxford University Press. On provider motivation, the theoretical background to quasi-markets.
- Bartlett, W., & Le Grand, J. (Eds.). (1993). Quasi-markets and social policy. Macmillan. The volume that systematised quasi-markets and cream-skimming risk.