Managing Government Property Assets
Subtitle: International Experiences
Contributors: Olga Kaganova (Editor); James Mckellar (Editor)
Publisher: Urban Institute Press
Published: March 30, 2006
Language: eng
Format: Paperback
Number of pages: 438
ISBN-13: 9780877667308
Subjects: Public Affairs & Administration; Public Finance; Business & Economics; Politics / Current Events; Finance, Public; Government property; Management; Business/Economics
Description: Governments own a vast array of real property—from large stretches of land to public housing projects, from water distribution systems and roads to office buildings. Typically, management of public property is highly fragmented, with responsibility for each type of asset falling within a different agency or bureaucracy. In almost all countries, different classes of property are managed according to their own rules, often following traditional practices rather than any assessment of what type of management is appropriate. Over the past decade, however, a new discipline has emerged that examines this important component of public wealth and seeks to apply standards of economic efficiency and effective organizational management. Managing Government Property Assets reviews and analyzes this recent wave of activity. The authors draw upon a wide variety of national and local practices, both in countries that have been leaders in management reforms and in countries just beginning to wrestle with the problem. This comparison reveals that the issues of public property management are surprisingly similar in different countries, despite striking differences in institutional contexts and policy solutions.