Progress 12/01/02 to 11/30/07
Outputs
OUTPUTS: This research project was designed to explore how privatization affects local governments in the US with special attention to differences in service delivery restructuring patterns by metro status. Using national survey data from 1992, 1997 and 2002 we were able to track trends in for profit privatization, inter-municipal cooperation and non profit contracting as compared to direct government service delivery. We discovered that rural municipalities, after increasing their use of cooperation and privatization from 1992 to 1997, returned to a primary reliance on direct public delivery by 2002. The reasons for this have to do with lack of competitive markets of alternative private suppliers, lack of cost savings under contracting, and challenges of management and ensuring public participation in the service delivery process. Reverse privatization, returning from contracting to direct public delivery again, grew by 50% between 1997 and 2002. This was due to problems with market
delivery, lack of cost savings and concern for enhanced citizen participation. What we see emerging is a new mixed position where governments mix public delivery with various forms of private partnerships. In fact, mixed public/private delivery is the fastest growing form of service delivery among US governments. This work was presented at an International Conference on Reasserting the Role of the State in Public Service Delivery, held in Singapore in September 2007. The work was also presented at a session on privatization at the American Collegiate Society of Planners in November 2008 and at the Association of Policy Analysis and Management in November 2008. A special issue of the journal Local Government Studies was published this fall, and another special issue is forthcoming in Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy in 2008.
PARTICIPANTS: Project collaborators include Amir Hefetz, Technion Israel Evelina Moulder, International City County Management Association Adrian Moore, Reason Foundation Germa Bel, University of Barcelona Jennifer Gerbasi,formerly with Georgetown Law School
TARGET AUDIENCES: Target audiences include academics in the fields of planning, public administration, economics and sociology, and professionals in the local government and public administration community.
Impacts
This research has had major impact on both the academic and policy press. While most studies of contracting look only at one point in time, we developed a method for analyzing the dynamics of local government contracting decisions and modeled that process over time. In doing so, we have explored why there is so much instability in the privatization process and a growing level of reversals, or contracting back-in previously privatized work. Our work has also focused on the growing importance of inter-municipal cooperation as an alternative to privatization, especially for rural municipalities. This work received substantial attention in the academic press. A list of articles published in 2007 and forthcoming for 2008 is attached. However, this work has also received substantial attention in the professional local government community. I have been invited to present the work in England, Australia, New Zealand and Spain. Privatization reversals are also common in the UK,
Australia and New Zealand but they lack the large scale, national survey data that enables comparison over time. Due to the interest we have generated in the professional community, the Reason Foundation agreed to fund the 2007 survey of Alternative Service Delivery among US Municipalities which should become available for analysis sometime next year. ICMA would not have been able to continue the survey without outside support.
Publications
- Warner, M.E. and Hefetz, A. 2008. Managing Markets for Public Service: The Role of Mixed Public/Private Delivery of City Services, Public Administration Review,68(1):150-161.
- Warner, M.E. and Bel, G. 2008. Competition or Monopoly? Comparing US and Spanish Privatization, forthcoming, Public Administration: An International Quarterly, 86 (forthcoming).
- Bel, G. and Warner, M.E. 2008. Challenging Issues in Local Privatization, Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy, forthcoming, editorial overview to special issue.
- Hipp, M. and Warner, M.E. 2008. Market Forces for the Unemployed? Training Vouchers in Germany and the U.S. Social Policy and Administration, 42 (1) forthcoming.
- Bel, G., Hebdon, R. and Warner, M.E. 2007. Local Government Reform: Privatization and Its Alternatives, Local Government Studies, 33(4): 507-515, editorial overview to special issue.
- Hefetz, A. and Warner, M.E. 2007. Beyond the Market vs. Planning Dichotomy: Understanding Privatisation and its Reverse in US Cities, Local Government Studies, 33(4): 555-572.
- Gerbasi, J. and Warner, M.E. 2007. Privatization, Public Goods and the Ironic Challenge of Free Trade Agreements, Administration and Society, 39(2):127-149.
|
Progress 01/01/06 to 12/31/06
Outputs
We made substantial progress on the research this year. We developed papers updating our earlier analyses and including the 2002 data. This enabled us to model changes in the use of for profit privatization and inter-municipal cooperation among US municipalities with a focus on rural governments. That work was published in Social Policy and Administration: An International Journal of Policy and Research. We also developed an analysis of cooperation set in the context of regionalism. This work was presented at the second International Conference of Territorial Policy in Zaragoza, Spain and later published in Urban Public Economics Review/Revista de Economia Publica Urbana. We conducted an analysis of the rise in mixed public-private provision which will be published in Public Administration Review in 2007. This work shows a managerial learning curve among local government leaders over the 1992-2002 decade and a new interest in balancing citizen voice concerns with
prior concerns primarily focused on efficiency. We conducted new work on reverse privatization and this will be published in Local Government Studies in 2007. We find reverse contracting is now 50 percent larger than new contracting out and that government leaders are balancing concerns with costs, market structuring, place characteristics and citizen voice in their choice of service delivery modes (public, private cooperatives). Our work on the governance implications of free trade will come out in the journal, Society and Administration, in 2007. These publications will be listed in the 2008 CRIS report after they are published. I co-organized the International Workshop on Local Government Reform: Privatization and Public-Private Collaboration, at the University of Barcelona, Barcelona, June 12-13th 2006, with Dr. Germa Bel. We are currently completing the final editing for two special issues which will come from that workshop and be published in 2007 in the journals: Local
Government Studies, and Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy I was invited to be keynote speaker at the Local Government New Zealand annual conference in July, and spoke to Technical University of Sydney's Center for Local Government in Sydney, Australia as well. I presented to the privatization research group at Cardiff Business School in Wales and the Rural Research Workshop, sponsored by UCAN: University of Highlands and Islands, Cornell, Aberdeen and Newcastle.
Impacts
This research has had major impact on both the academic and policy press. We have pioneered the method for analyzing the dynamics of local government contracting decisions and modeled that process over time. In doing so, we have explored why there is so much instability in the privatization process and a growing level of reversals, or contracting back in previously privatized work. Our work has also focused on the growing importance of inter-municipal cooperation as an alternative to privatization, especially for rural municipalities. Not only has this work received substantial attention in the academic press. But my ability to make it relevant in policy circles has resulted in the Reason Foundation agreeing to cofund the 2007 survey of Alternative Service Delivery among US Municipalities. ICMA would not have been able to continue the survey without outside support.
Publications
- Warner, M.E. 2006. Inter-municipal Cooperation in the U.S.: A Regional Governance Solution Urban Public Economics Review/Revista de Economia Publica Urbana, 7: 132-151.
- Warner, M.E. 2006. Market-Based Governance and the Challenge for Rural Governments: U.S. Trends, Social Policy and Administration: An International Journal of Policy and Research 40(6):612-631.
|
Progress 01/01/05 to 12/31/05
Outputs
Three trends stood out in the 2002 data. First, mixed public and private delivery for the same service grew more rapidly than any other form of service delivery. Second, reverse privatization, contracting back in, was higher than the level of new contracting out. Third, rural municipalities use of both privatization and inter-municipal cooperation dropped significantly. Over the 2005 year we conducted a more detailed statistical analysis of these trends. A paper on the growth in mixed service delivery based on a panel analysis of the 1992, 1997 and 2002 data found that government capacity and concerns with monitoring explained higher use of mixed delivery in all years, but over time we see a managerial learning process where governments realize that to ensure citizen satisfaction, they must keep a hand in actual service delivery. Rural areas showed more of a disadvantage over the decade. A paper on the nature of reverse privatization and changes between the 1992-97
paired sample to the 1997-2002 sample showed greater concern with citizen voice in the later periods. A third paper focused on rural effects and trends from 1992 to 2002. Rural areas are not keeping up as they were in 1997 and instead are returning to direct public delivery. This paper is under review at Social Policy and Administration: An International Journal of Policy and Research for a special issue on rural governance. We conducted a cross national comparison with Spain and found the nature of mixed delivery in Spain is within the firm (mixed public/private ownership structure) rather than at the level of market (mixed public and private providers competing) and this seems to explain the greater stability of privatization in Spain as compared to the U.S. That paper is currently under review at Public Administration. Interviews with government officials were conducted to better understand the nature of contracting back-in and the public values at stake in the privatization
process while I was on sabbatical leave in Washington DC in spring 2005. I also began work on a book manuscript that explores the findings for a policy audience. My research on the governance impacts of new free trade agreements was accepted for publication in Administration and Society. This paper shows that the free trade agreements deny the critical elements needed in a Coasian bargaining framework for market solutions to work. Research results were presented at the Economic Policy Institute, National Association of Counties and International City/County Management Assoc. in Washington DC during Spring 2005. I was an invited speaker to the Future of Local Government Conference, Melbourne, Australia in June 2005. Our work on mixed public private delivery was presented at a session at the Association of Public Policy Analysis and Management conference in Washington DC, Nov. 2005. I also organized a special session for the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning conference in
Kansas City in Nov. 2005 where the work on reverse privatization and the Spanish comparative paper were presented. I also presented at the Farm Foundation Public Policy Conference in Washington DC in Sept. 2005.
Impacts
While privatization continues to have strong political appeal, the reality is that local governments have become more cautious in their use of market solutions. Lack of efficiency gains, concerns with citizen voice and control, and the inability of rural areas to compete are some of the reasons for reduced use of private delivery mechanisms. Local officials, foundations, unions and national associations of local government find these results raise questions about how far we should push privatization, especially in rural areas. I regularly receive calls from local officials, foundations and the press for perspective on the privatization issue. My web site, is heavily used by academics and practitioners looking for a balanced, academic review of privatization.
Publications
- No publications reported this period
|
Progress 01/01/04 to 12/31/04
Outputs
We analyzed the 2002 survey data and produced an article on basic trends and descriptive statistics for the International City County Management Association Municipal Yearbook in 2004. Since then we have run models to look at differential rural-urban impacts, the nature of contracting back-in, and changes in the impact of privatization on equity and voice. We are now working on a book manuscript that explores the findings for a policy audience. New empirical analysis testing the possibility of pattern matching techniques was conducted. Results are as yet inconclusive. We are also conducting a by service analysis (previous work has been by place) to get at the complexity in the mix between public and various private forms of service delivery. Interviews with government officials were conducted to better understand the nature of contracting back-in and the public values at stake in the privatization process. More interviews of this nature will be conducted in Washington
DC in spring 2005. Research on the governance impacts of new free trade agreements was published in both popular professional press as well as referred journal articles. Research results were presented at the Maxwell School in Syracuse NY, The International Public Management Research Symposium in Budapest, Hungary and The Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning in Portland OR.
Impacts
This research has had an important impact among local governments at the local, state and national levels and among public sector union researchers. The privatization trends research presents a balanced, non ideological empirical analysis, often missing in a field more typically characterized by case studies either pro or con. The International City County Management Association relies heavily on my expertise in survey design and data analysis - including publishing in their Municipal Yearbook. Economic Policy Institute presents my research as a featured presentation in their national conferences on privatization. The academic community is taking note of this work - both for its analysis of the dynamics of the contracting process and the uneven geographic incidence of its effects. Close connection to local government officials helps ground the research in real life practice and make the lessons learned applicable in the professional practice of public managers. My web
site is heavily used by academics and practitioners looking for a balanced, academic review of privatization.
Publications
- Kohl, Ben and M.E. Warner. 2004. Scales of Neoliberalism. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research. December 2004 28(4):855-57.
- Warner, M.E. and Jennifer Gerbasi. 2004. Rescaling and Reforming the State under NAFTA: Implications for Subnational Authority, International Journal of Urban and Regional Research. 28(4):853-73.
- Hefetz, Amir and M. Warner, 2004. Privatization and Its Reverse: Explaining the Dynamics of the Government Contracting Process. Journal of Public Administration, Research and Theory. 14(2):171-190. Available at http://jpart.oupjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/14/2/171?ijkey=156S EfUPE3BE2&keytype=ref
- Warner, M.E. and Amir Hefetz. 2004. Pragmatism over Politics: Alternative Service Delivery in Local Government, 1992-2002, pp 8-16 in The Municipal Year Book 2004. Washington, DC: International City County Management Association.
- Gerbasi, Jennifer and Mildred Warner. 2004. Is There a Democratic Deficit in the Free Trade Agreements? What Local Governments Should Know, Public Management 86:2 (16-21).
|
Progress 01/01/03 to 12/31/03
Outputs
ICMA's 2002 survey of Alternative Service Delivery was in the field from Nov 2002-June 2003. We received the data in August and began preliminary analysis for a book chapter on trends from 1992-2002 for the International City/County Municipal Association's Municipal Yearbook in 2004. While awaiting the new data, we completed research on rural/urban differences in the incidence of privatization which was published in Environment and Planning C in 2003. Suburbs exhibit the highest use of privatization. Nonadjacent rural areas show the lowest use of privatization, relying instead on inter-municipal cooperation to gain scale. Two other book chapters also were published in 2003. One was part of the compilation Challenges for Rural America in the Twenty First Century, edited by David Brown and Louis Swanson. It focuses on the role of cooperation for rural areas, suggesting that cooperative governance strategies may replace competitive governance strategies in the new
century. We also published a chapter for the International City County Management Association Municipal Yearbook seeking to explain why governments contract back in previously privatized work. During the year we continued research on a model of what explains differences in the level of contracting back in as compared to new contracting out. Preliminary case study research on the public values at stake in the privatization process was conducted in Spring 2003 (of local government organization and public sector union leaders) and in Fall 2003 (of local government managers who contracted back in services as reported in the 2002 ICMA survey). Analysis of this qualitative data is ongoing, but suggests service quality is the primary public value of concern. Research also was conducted on the role of new free trade agreements on public values in local government service provision. Our research found an imbalance between attention to economic and business concerns over democratic access and
expression for state and local governments. The new free trade agreements, modeled after the North American Free Trade Agreement, give enhanced rights to foreign private investors, and substitute a private adjudication mechanism for the public courts. A popular article has posted to my web site http://government.cce.cornell.edu and two articles (one academic, and one popular) are under review. Research was presented at the Rural Sociology meetings in Montreal in August 2003 and the Economic Policy Institute national conference on Privatization in Washington DC in April 2003.
Impacts
This research has had an important impact among local governments at the local, state and national levels and among public sector union researchers. The privatization trends research presents a balanced, non ideological empirical analysis, often missing in a field more typically characterized by case studies either pro or con. The International City County Management Association relies heavily on my expertise in survey design and data analysis - including publishing in their Municipal Yearbook. Economic Policy Institute presents my research as a featured presentation in their national conferences on privatization. The academic community is taking note of this work - both for its analysis of the dynamics of the contracting process and the uneven geographic incidence of its effects. Close connection to local government officials helps ground the research in real life practice and make the lessons learned applicable in the professional practice of public managers.
Publications
- Gerbasi, Jennifer and M. Warner. 2003. The Impact of International Trade on State and Local Government Authority. Available at http://www.cce.cornell.edu/restructuring
- Warner, M.E. and A. Hefetz. 2003. Rural-Urban Differences in Privatization: Limits to the Competitive State. Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy, 21(5): 703-718.
- Warner, M.E. with Mike Ballard and Amir Hefetz. 2003. Contracting Back In - When Privatization Fails. Chapter 4, pp 30-36 in The Municipal Year Book 2003. Washington, DC: International City County Management Association.
- Warner, M.E., 2003. Competition, Cooperation and Local Governance. Chapter 19, pp 252-262 in Challenges for Rural America in the Twenty First Century, edited by David Brown and Louis Swanson, University Park, PA: Penn State University Press.
|
|