Urban alternatives : public and private markets in the provision of local services
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
Urban alternatives : public and private markets in the provision of local services
(Pitt series in policy and institutional studies)
University of Pittsburgh Press, c1990
Available at 16 libraries
  Aomori
  Iwate
  Miyagi
  Akita
  Yamagata
  Fukushima
  Ibaraki
  Tochigi
  Gunma
  Saitama
  Chiba
  Tokyo
  Kanagawa
  Niigata
  Toyama
  Ishikawa
  Fukui
  Yamanashi
  Nagano
  Gifu
  Shizuoka
  Aichi
  Mie
  Shiga
  Kyoto
  Osaka
  Hyogo
  Nara
  Wakayama
  Tottori
  Shimane
  Okayama
  Hiroshima
  Yamaguchi
  Tokushima
  Kagawa
  Ehime
  Kochi
  Fukuoka
  Saga
  Nagasaki
  Kumamoto
  Oita
  Miyazaki
  Kagoshima
  Okinawa
  Korea
  China
  Thailand
  United Kingdom
  Germany
  Switzerland
  France
  Belgium
  Netherlands
  Sweden
  Norway
  United States of America
Note
Includes bibliographical references (p. 237-245) and index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
In this study, Robert Stein asks whether the way cities are organized affects how well they provide services for their residents. He weighs the small and large organizational choices every local government makes - from its paper flow and chain-of-command to its funding sources and contracting arrangements - against the real end results of services for citizens: sanitation, transportation, public safety and education. Though the organizational structure of local governments has often been studied, researchers until now have relatively ignored the relationship between a city's organization and its actual performance. Stein frames the issue of service arrangements around the market maximization models of Paul Peterson, James Buchanan and Gary Miller. He argues that Peterson's condition of limited municipal service responsibility is actually more variable than originally reported. Stein's findings are based upon a survey revealing differences between old industrial cities and young postindustrial cities, metropolitan and non- metropolitan areas, as well as the definitions of similar units of government among these.
Institutional rules and procedures used in the decision-making process are also examined, including the often controversial decision to contract out for a service. In the author's view a diversity of arrangements - among private and public providers - increases the efficiency of a city's municipal spending. Finally, Stein discusses future trends for municipal service provision, paying particular attention to the role city service arrangement plays in defining the scope of municipal responsibility.
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