We examine the issue of privatization of those public goods that can be provided in-house or contracted out. Such privatization appears straightforward, yet history shows otherwise. For example, the private contracting system for street cleaning in 19th-century New York City was a failure,...

Privatization of services that were formerly provided by governmental agencies has been an important issue for both local and national governments. The purpose of this paper is to examine the issue of privatization in the context of the provision of a public good such as street cleaning and...