Hefetz, Amir and Mildred E. Warner. 2007. "Beyond the Market vs. Planning Dichotomy: Understanding Privatisation and its Reverse in US Cities," Local Government Studies, 33(4).
City service delivery requires planners and city managers to move beyond the public-private dichotomy and explore the benefits of interaction between markets and planning. Using International City County Management survey data on U.S. local governments from 1992, 1997 and 2002, we find a shift where reverse contracting (reinternalisation) now exceeds the level of new contracting out (privatisation). We model how a theoretical shift from New Public Management to New Public Service in public administration mirrors a behavioral shift among city managers. Results confirm the need to balance economic concerns with political engagement of citizens and lend empirical support to a theory of Social Choice that links Communicative Planning with market management.
Subject: Privatization