That’s the question the New York Times asks today in its online “Room for Debate” series. I’m up there with a contribution (answer: “maybe”). Harvard’s Jack Donahue puts the right answer most succinctly:

Some things government should do itself. Some things it should outsource. The rules for smart contracting aren’t mysterious. Tasks that are well-defined, easy to monitor and available from competitive suppliers — call them “commodity tasks” — are prime candidates for privatization. Tasks that are complex and mutable, lack clear benchmarks or are immune from competition — “custom tasks” — should be kept in-house.

Alas, as Donahue notes, states and cities consistently privatize the stuff they shouldn’t, and don’t privatize the stuff they should.

This outcome is not much of a surprise. Private-sector privatization proponents seek out opportunities for out-sized profits (hey, who doesn’t?), and it’s easier to make such profits where there are few competitors and where nobody’s watching because watching is hard.

Read the whole debate!

You may also like

How Washington’s Budget Bill Will Affect Health Care in New York

UPDATE: The final version of the federal budget bill omitted a handful of provisions that had been included in earlier drafts. One would have penalized states that use their own money to provide coverage for undocumente Read More

Albany’s Looming Energy Shock

For all Governor Hochul’s talk about “affordability”, it seems electricity prices have not received that memo. Recent from the U.S. Energy Information Administration show New York househo Read More

New York’s K-12 Problem

New York has an education problem that no one really likes to talk about: it spends more than any other state or country in the world yet achieves mediocre results at best. This might come as a surprise, especially since some politicians and pundits tout Read More

Two Dozen School Districts Are Returning to the Polls for Budget Revotes

Voters in 24 New York school districts return to the polls on Tuesday for school budget revotes. Last month, voters in 96 percent of school districts outside New York City conducting votes approved their school budgets for the upcoming year. The 683 sc Read More

Sponsors of a $10 Fee for Prescriptions Narrow Their Proposal

UPDATE: The bill discussed in this post passed the Senate at around 3:30 a.m. Friday by a vote of 57-2. Legislation that would mandate a $10 "dispensing fee" for filling pr Read More

Even With Federal Cuts, New York’s Health Funding Would Remain High

New York's health-care industry stands to lose billions of dollars in federal funding under the major budget bill being debated in Washington – a rare and jarring turn of events for a sector accustomed to steadily increas Read More

As Albany’s Session Ends, Watch for Rising Health Costs

Every session of the state Legislature brings a fresh crop of proposals that would drive up health-care costs, and 2025 is no exception. Here is a sampling of pending bills that, if Read More

Empire Center Launches K-12 SOS on Education Achievement and Spending in New York

In 2022-23 New York used to spend more than any other state or country – $30,000 per student. Next school year the spending might increase to $35,000 per student. Even at $30,000 New York spends twice as much as the US average, and about a third more Read More