Development of social sector through institutional change

Abstract

The article analyses the preconditions of institutional changes in the social sector of Ukraine with the focus on the analysis of institutional regime quality and the analysis of the current model of social services management and financing. A comparative analysis of countries by the Knowledge Economy Index showed that it is due to institutional component that this index value decreases. High-income countries do not show significant growth dynamics as well. It is a quite representative fact that countries on path to creating competitive institutions (Baltic countries, Poland) are demonstrating the increasing dynamics of the Knowledge Economy Index, by the development of institutions as well. The analysis of individual components of the Knowledge Economy Index is also informative. Thus, Ukraine demonstrates a decline in the institutional environment quality over the period from 2000 to 2012 according to quantitative indicator of the economic and institutional regimes. The article also compares models of social services management in Ukraine and in developed countries. A multi-level model of social services management in Ukraine is formed. Its feature isthat most services are attributed to all three levels of management and financing. The results of the analysis show that the management of social service delivery is distributed to a wide range of stakeholders. The main difference between the models of social services management in Ukraine and in the countries of the analysed group is in the degree of private capital attraction. Current trends in the social sector development indicate the need for development of market economy institutions there: the social services market, social entrepreneurship in combination with the development of social impact investments. These processes should be regulated based on the following principles: priority of social goals in stakeholder cooperation, continuous improvement of quality, priority of one level of management of budgetary funds, stage-by-stage and comprehensive assessment of consequences of implementing new models of social services management.