Social Preferences for Public Provision of Services: Experimental Evidence from Latin America

We study how individuals in six Latin American countries value public versus private provision of education and healthcare using a survey experiment. Respondents were randomly assigned to vignettes that vary income, service quality, and provider type. Perceived quality is the main driver of choices: the probability of selecting a private provider roughly doubles when public quality falls from 80 to 20 percent, while income has a smaller effect. Higher institutional trust lowers the likelihood of switching to private providers but does not affect willingness to pay once individuals choose private provision. The multi-country design supports external validity and reveals similar behavioral responses across contexts. The results show that improving service quality and rebuilding institutional trust can reduce reliance on private provision.