Features
- Cover Type: Paperback with 208 pages
- Published by: Cornell University Press December 2001
- Written in: English
- ISBN 10 Number: 0801487625
- ISBN 13 Number: 978-0801487620
-
Book Dimensions:
8.8 x 5.9 x 0.5 inches
- Weighs: 11.2 ounces
Product Description
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 twist, privatization does not shrink government--the broader goal of many of its own champions. He also demonstrates that there is more to consider in providing these services than trying to achieve efficiency; there are issues such as equity and access that cannot be ignored.
Sclar believes that public officials and voters will soon realize the limitations of "contracting out" just as private corporations have come to understand the drawbacks of outsourcing. After looking at the effectiveness of alternatives to privatization, he offers suggestions for improving public sector performance--advice he hopes will be heeded before it is too late.
A Century Foundation Book
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Reader Reviews
This review is from: You Don't Always Get What You Pay for: The Economics of Privatization (Hardcover)
This is an excellently-written critique of privatization. In case after case, Sclar reveals that all is not as it might seem, and that beneath the apparition of improved efficiency lies a different reality supporters of privatization might not want revealed. The book does not tell the whole story. Sclar has long been a critic of privatization, and he frankly doesn't highlight the successes of privatization -- and these certainly do exist. I don't really think there is a case to be made specifically "for privatization" or "anti-privatization," but a requirement for more balanced analysis, which has not been present in the output of privatization advocates. There is also a need to examine ways that the public sector can be made more efficient without necessarily bringing in a privatization approach. Sclar provides a valuable service in laying out a series of critical paths in an uncommonly well-written text, and prompts readers to ask the difficult questions. Well worth reading. If you are specifically interested in public transportation, also take a look at my new book -- The Private Provision of Public Transport -- available through Amazon.
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