Treating public goods and services as commodities: winners and losers
Over the past four decades market economics has become an orthodoxy for determining who gets what, when and how in public services. It has driven the privatization of some public assets, the franchising and outsourcing of the management of others and the development of internal markets, all with the aim of improving economy, efficiency, and even the efficacy, of services. This collection of articles takes stock of the development in all of this of the commodification of the public good. It provides both academics and service practitioners with an elucidation of the conceptualizations and philosophies of commodification, case studies of its working in practice, and assessments of the gains and losses brought by its development. Of particular note for both academic and policy practitioners are the impacts of commodification on governance, the relationships between services and their users, and policy, its evaluation and risks.
Edited by
Andrew Gray(Emeritus Professor of Public Management, Durham University, UK)
Simon Roberts(Associate Professor of Social and Public Policy, University of Nottingham, UK)
Bruce Stafford(Emeritus Professor of Public Policy, University of Nottingham, UK)
Jane Broadbent(Emerita Professor of Accounting, Royal Holloway University of London, UK)