Crs Report for Congress: Privatization and the Federal Government

ISBN-10: 1294024701
ISBN-13: 9781294024705
Series: Crs Report for Congress
Pages: 40
Language: English
Published: 2013-10
Publisher: BiblioGov
Authors: Kevin R. Kosar, Congressional Research Service: The Libr

Description

During the past two decades, the privatization of federal agencies and activities has been much debated. That said, privatization -- here defined as the use of the private sector in the provision of a good or service, the components of which include financing, operations (supplying, production, delivery), and quality control -- is not a recent phenomenon. Since its founding in 1789, the federal government has used private firms to provide goods and services. Hence, privatization is of perennial interest to Congress. This report is an introduction to privatization in the federal governmental context. It discusses the emergence of privatization on the federal policy agenda in the late 1970s and early 1980s. To some, privatization appeared as an answer to the purported failures of "big government." Privatization attracted political support due to its rhetorically persuasive rationales, purported benefits, and political attractiveness. However, privatization also has been controversial. Critics have complained that privatization is a form of union busting and that privatization can have unforseen and undesirable consequences. This report also supplies a typology of the various means through which federal agencies and activities have been privatized. The typology shows that privatization is not an either/or proposition. Rather, privatization, as this report's ...