In the nineteenth century, private expeditions to the Arctic region achieved more success with fewer resources and fewer casualties than public expeditions, exemplifying the superiority of the private sector, say economists.
Based on an in-depth analysis of 92 expeditions between 1818 and 1909, researchers compared the success of private and publicly funded exploration using several measures.
With lower casualty rates, private explorations achieved more than public explorations.
Of the minor discoveries, the public and private explorations performed equally.
Yet, public explorations had better funding and were much larger. The average public expedition deployed 70 crewmen, whereas the average private expedition deployed only 16. Public explorations took 1.6 ships weighing 596 tons, while private explorations had 1.2 ships weighing 277 vessel tons. Thus, despite superior resources, public explorers fared far worse than private ones.
The researchers conclude the private expeditions were roughly five times more efficient. This suggests that if both the private and public sector can accomplish a task, the private sector can perform the task at a cheaper cost.
Source: Lessons from the Arctic, Economic Intuition, Winter 2001; based on Jonathan M. Karpoff, Public versus Private Initiative in Arctic Exploration: The Effects of Incentives and Organizational Structure, Journal of Political Economy, February 2001.
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