ABSTRACT
Co-production or citizen involvement in the provision of public services generated a flurry of interest among American scholars of public administration in the 1970s and the 1980s. Co-production is also essential for sustaining current levels of welfare service provision in many European welfare systems facing sharp budget constraints, the crunch of globalization and losing jobs to low-wage countries. Co-production will be illustrated by parents' participation in childcare services in eight European countries. Economic participation in childcare services can either involve the contribution of money, in-kind donations or time by parents. Parent fees are found in most countries and they represent one kind of economic participation. The chapter attempts to identify various types of citizen participation in terms of co-production resulted in examples of direct contributions in economic, political, social and service specific terms by parents to the value created by childcare facilities throughout Europe.
