Privatization: "Contracting Out"

Paper Summary:

The author writes this essay comparing and contrasting three works, including that of Ronal Moe, around the idea of privatization, or "contracting out." The author also expresses an opinion of the effects of privatizing social services. Although the federal government has given many of their programs to the private sector, history reveals that the idea of privatization has not always been widely accepted. Nevertheless, the "movement" seems to allow the government to cut costs, all the while, weakening their power over these programs. The writers of the three works discussed would debate these issues. Despite the private sector's efficiency, privatizing social services could have a negative effect on disadvantaged clients.

From the Paper:

"There has been continued debate over the issue of the privatization of public administration. Privatization can be generally defined as "any public policy decision that involves a reliance on a private means to achieve a pubic end." In Ronald Moe's "Exploring the Limits of Privatization," he examined the need for mutual coexistence and linkage between the public and private sectors while describing the limitations of privatization from a legal perspective. In "The Privatization of Correctional Facilities," Quinlan, Thomas, and Gautreaux provided an overview of the theory and the history of correctional privatization as an introduction to detailed information for the procurement and contracting process in the area of corrections. Both of these works can be compared to that of the "State and Local Fiscal and Privatization Trends" where Chieppo, Montague, and Savas discussed the experiences of different states and their desire, or lack thereof, to privatize government agencies. These three writings are similar in content; however, there are some portions where the ideas of they contrast."

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