Preface / Evelyn Z. Brodkin and Gregory Marston -- Introduction -- Work and the welfare state / Evelyn Z. Brodkin -- Street-level organizations and the welfare state / Evelyn Z. Brodkin -- What's at issue: politics, policies, and jobs -- The American welfare state : two narratives / Michael...

In a growing number of countries, the delivery of social welfare services is contracted out to private providers, and increasingly, using performance-based contracts. Critics of performance-based incentive contracts stress their potential unintended effects, including cream-skimming and other...