1.

Record Nr.

UNISA996200066003316

Autore

Le Grand Julian

Titolo

The other invisible hand : delivering public services through choice and competition / / Julian Le Grand

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Princeton, : Princeton University Press, 2007

ISBN

1-282-15746-9

9786612157462

1-4008-2800-7

Edizione

[Course Book]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (207 p.)

Classificazione

88.10

PN 212

Altri autori (Persone)

EnthovenAlain

LipseyDavid

Disciplina

361.941

Soggetti

Social service - Great Britain - Finance

Municipal services - Great Britain - Finance

Medical care - Great Britain - Finance

Health services administration - Great Britain

Education - Great Britain - Finance

School choice - Great Britain

School management and organization - Economic aspects - Great Britain

Privatization - Great Britain

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references (p. [183]-195).

Nota di contenuto

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Acknowledgements -- Introduction -- Chapter 1. Ends and Means -- Chapter 2. Choice and Competition -- Chapter 3. School Education -- Chapter 4. Health Care -- Chapter 5. New Ideas -- Chapter 6. The Politics of Choice -- Afterwords: An American Perspective / Enthoven, Alain -- Afterwords: A Sceptic's Perspective / Lipsey, David -- Further Reading -- Bibliography

Sommario/riassunto

How can we ensure high-quality public services such as health care and education? Governments spend huge amounts of public money on public services such as health, education, and social care, and yet the services that are actually delivered are often low quality, inefficiently



run, unresponsive to their users, and inequitable in their distribution. In this book, Julian Le Grand argues that the best solution is to offer choice to users and to encourage competition among providers. Le Grand has just completed a period as policy advisor working within the British government at the highest levels, and from this he has gained evidence to support his earlier theoretical work and has experienced the political reality of putting public policy theory into practice. He examines four ways of delivering public services: trust; targets and performance management; "voice"; and choice and competition. He argues that, although all of these have their merits, in most situations policies that rely on extending choice and competition among providers have the most potential for delivering high-quality, efficient, responsive, and equitable services. But it is important that the relevant policies be appropriately designed, and this book provides a detailed discussion of the principal features that these policies should have in the context of health care and education. It concludes with a discussion of the politics of choice.