Abstract: Theoretical perspectives on the ideological influences on government contracting predict that local governments controlled by right-wing political parties will contract out a higher proportion of services than those controlled by left-wing parties. However, empirical evidence on the impact of political ideology on contracting out remains inconclusive. To cast new light on this important issue, we apply a quasi-experimental research design to contracting choices in children's social services in English local government. Because local governments in England are largely divided on bipartisan lines, we are able to estimate ideological effects using a Regression Discontinuity Design (RDD) that captures "near experimental" changes in political control at 50% of the seats gained in local elections. Our RDD estimates reveal that left-wing controlled local governments that have only small majorities exhibit a marked aversion to private sector involvement in service provision, and a clear preference for in-house service provision. These results are robust to a variety of alternative specifications.

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