Cities for sale: Privatization of local government services

Abstract

Private provision of public services has always been a factor in local government. In 1736 Benjamin Franklin and a group of civic leaders founded a fire company in Philadelphia because such a service was needed and the city could not provide it. Local municipalities often cannot provide the labor, equipment, and expertise to build roads, to do data processing, or to run hospitals but rather arrange with someone else who has the expertise to perform these tasks. However, during the 1970s rapid inflation, shrinking tax bases, and “no growth” budgets made the public provision of even what is popularly perceived as essential government services seem more like a tight‐rope walk than responsible government.

Citation

Mongeau, D. (1993), "Cities for sale: Privatization of local government services", Reference Services Review, Vol. 21 No. 4, pp. 75-90. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb049202