You Don't Always Get What You Pay for

by Sclar, Elliott D.

• ISBN13: 9780801437335
• ISBN10: 0801437334
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2000-05-01
• Publisher: Cornell Univ Pr

Summary

Today, nearly all public services -- from schools and hospitals to prisons, fire departments, and sanitation -- are considered fair game for privatization. Proponents argue that private firms responding to competitive market pressures will provide better service at lower cost. While this assertion has caused much controversy, the debate has consisted mainly of impassioned defenses of entrenched positions on all sides.

You Don't Always Get What You Pay For changes the contours of this debate. Elliott D. Sclar offers a balanced look at the pitfalls and promises of public sector privatization in the United States. Describing the underlying economic dynamics of how public agencies and private organizations actually work together, he provides a rigorous analysis of the assumptions behind the case for privatization.

The competitive-market model may seem appealing, but Sclar warns that it does not address the complex reality of contracting for government services. Using specific examples such as mail service and urban transportation, he shows that, in an ironic tw

Author Biography

Elliott D. Sclar is Professor of Urban Planning at Columbia University, where he is also Director of Urban Planning Programs.

Table of Contents

Foreword	vii
Acknowledgments	xi
The Urge to Privatize: From the Bureaucratic State to the Contract State	1	(19)
What Is the Public Buying? Identifying the Contracted Public Good	20	(27)
Public vs. Private Production: Is One Better and How Would You Know?	47	(22)
What's Competition Got to Do with It? Market Structures and Public Contracting	69	(25)
All in the System: Organizational Theories and Public Contracting	94	(36)
Restructuring Work: The Relational Contract	130	(21)
The Privatization of Public Service: Economic Limits of the Contract State	151	(18)
Bibliography	169	(8)
Index	177