The Right Privatization
Why Private Firms in Public Initiatives Need Capable Governments

Privatization requires the presence of capable governments setting clear goals, addressing potential hazards of private engagement, and exploring multiple paths of improvement.

Sergio G. Lazzarini (Author)

9781316519714, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 7 April 2022

280 pages
23.5 x 15.7 x 2.1 cm, 0.558 kg

'If you want to avoid the ideological minefields of privatization, read this brilliant yet lucid treatise by Lazzarini about how best to combine the public and private sectors to maximize the public interest.' Ravi Ramamurti, Northeastern University

The public debate is rife with polarized views of how to deliver essential services such as education, health, and security. While some tout privatization as a way to supplant bad governments, others warn that private firms maximize profits at the expense of socially oriented service attributes. In reality, all forms of service delivery—public, private and hybrid public private-collaborations—have merits and flaws. This book scrutinizes the menu of delivery forms in public services and the conditions that should make them work. It argues that privatization benefits from capable government units committing to well-defined policy objectives, mobilizing critical resources, and incentivizing effective and inclusive delivery. Societies counting on capable governments can also reject single solutions and experiment with plural paths of improvement, where public and private organizations co-exist and learn from each other. This book will appeal to students, academics, managers and policy makers interested in examining the public-private boundary and the many ramifications of this focal issue.

1. Public or private? The conceptual foundations
2. The effectiveness–inclusion framework
3. Public, private, and their variations: A comparative analysis
4. Privatization needs capable governments
5. Completing the contracts: Paying for social outcomes
6. Private investors in the public interest?
7. Public promotion of private capabilities
8. A roadmap to privatization (and its alternatives).

Subject Areas: Privatization [KJVD], Business strategy [KJC], Economic systems & structures [KCS], Political economy [KCP], Public administration [JPP], Political science & theory [JPA]