The Other Invisible Hand: Delivering Public Services through Choice and Competition
"This book is the bee's knees. Slender though it may be, it is one of the finest discussions of the dilemmas of and possibilities for the public services published in the past ten years."--Anthony Giddens,Times Higher Education Supplement"Anyone interested in a succinct, engaging account of new ideas for public service modernization in the UK, in health and education particularly, will race through Julian Le Grand's latest book.... While the style is light, the thinking is certainly not simplistic. This is not an argument for the privatization of public services or the nonchalant handing out of money to patients or parents to fend for themselves on health and education. Nor is it, thankfully, concerned with the method of raising finance for health, which can often distract from other policy issues. It is, rather, about harnessing the positive aspects of competition between providers and choice for users. The purpose is to support interlinked social goals of equity, efficiency, improved health outcomes, social cohesion, the avoidance of segregation and better social mobility."--Mary Harney,Irish Times"For a spirited defence of the role of choice-and-competition in the public service delivery mix, you will not find a better book than Le Grand's."--Robert E. Goodin,Public Policy"[T]he book provides a lively, and well written polemic that should be widely consulted particularly by those who are skeptical about the merits of a market approach to social welfare."--James Midgley,Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare