ABSTRACT
This chapter considers that the three databases represented a strong range of information sources over the various major disciplines that have undertaken quantitative studies on privatization, and that the risk of such bias was likely to be low. The three databases are: ABI/INFORM Global, Public Affairs Information Service (PAIS), and Dissertation Abstracts Online (DAO). The DAO database presents work from over 1,000 universities throughout the world, including most North American graduate schools and many European universities. As part of larger search for evidence on privatization, around the same number of references were also found for each of the categories of enterprise sales and property rights, as well as discussion of the relationship between public and private sector business effectiveness. In addition to the formal literature search through the international databases noted, an attempt was also made to retrieve any unpublished studies that might have been completed on contracting out in the local government sector of the Australian state, South Australia.
