Choosing Roles and Missions for Government and the Private Sector

This Note presents a preliminary conceptual framework for reconsidering the existing division of responsibilities between public and private sectors, and among different levels of government. With this framework as a guide, the Note reviews previous evaluations of alternative assignments of responsibility for three diverse program areas — electric power, public welfare, and industrial policy. In general, the empirical literature provides limited coverage of the framework's evaluation foci, and thus only partially informs assignment decisions. However, among his tentative conclusions, the author found that cost-conscious communities would, on the average, fare better with public providers of electricity, or a regulated private arrangement as the next best choice; and whichever level of government sets spending standards and guidelines for a particular public assistance program should also bear responsibility for financing it.