Description
Book SynopsisLegitimized by the arguments of efficiency gains, public housing, pensions, unemployment insurance and health care are all being gradually privatized. In many countries, even the state's 'night-watchmen' role of providing security is offered by private prisons and security guards. In the face of these and other developments, this book argues that on the basis of efficiency, morality and equality there is still an overwhelming need for public intervention - the
res publica. Public or Private Goods? brings together leading scholars from various disciplines including economics, sociology, political science, geography and spatial planning. The book explores core public tasks that the state has traditionally provided but which are increasingly privatized and subsumed into the private sector. For example, although the state still funds and regulates core domains, it provides fewer and fewer visible goods. The authors show how this apparent invisibility of the state presents serious challenges for both income equality and democracy.
This thoughtful interdisciplinary book will appeal to advanced students and academics in political science, public sector economics and public finance. It will also provide stimulating reading for politicians, policymakers and anyone interested in the provision of public services.
Contributors include: F. Blank, G. Bonvissuto, J. Ferwerda, M. Getzner, G. Gutheil-Knopp-Kirchwald, J. Kadi, T. Knijn, I. Koetsier, J. Lewis, B. Unger, D. van der Linde, K. van Egmond, F. van Waarden
Trade Review‘The editors have gathered an impressive multidisciplinary team of authors, which mirrors Egons Matzner's socio-economic and interdisciplinary approach to public finance: The authors are academics from economics, sociology, political science, geography and spatial planning. . . The contributions in this book form an indispensable starting point for all those who want to deal with questions of public goods and the common good in a fundamental and modern non-neoclassical way.' -- European Journal of Economics and Economic Policies: Intervention
Table of ContentsContents: Foreword 1. Introduction Brigitte Unger, Loek Groot and Daan van der Linde 2. Value Based Demarcation Between the Public and the Private Domain Klaas van Egmond Part I Traditional Core Tasks of the State: Security 3. The Fight against Money Laundering: A Public Task? Joras Ferwerda 4. Natural Disasters and (Future) Government Debt Ian Koetsier Part II New Core Tasks: Social Security 5. The Advantages and Disadvantages of Different Pension System Designs Ian Koetsier 6. Pension Provision: (Still) a Public Task? Florian Blank 7. Protection Against Unemployment – A Res Publica? Brigitte Unger 8. More Health Care or More Beer? A Curious Paradox of Making Some Economic Tasks a Res Publica Frans van Waarden 9. ECEC: Childcare Markets in the Netherlands and England Trudie Knijn and Jane Lewis Part III Public Goods 10. Housing Policy and Spatial Inequality: Recent Insights from Vienna and Amsterdam Gerlinde Gutheil-Knopp-Kirchwald and Justin Kadi 11. Funding of Protected Areas: A Purely Public Task? Grazia Withalm 12. The Role of Governments in Conserving and Funding Cultural Institutions Michael Getzner 13. Income Distribution as a Public Task: The Redistributive Preferences of (Mis)informed Voters Daan van der Linde 14. Conclusions Brigitte Unger, Michael Getzner and Daan van der Linde Index
