Public services
Public services is a term usually used to mean
services provided by
government to its
citizens, either directly (through the
public sector) or by financing
private provision of services. The term is associated with a
social consensus (usually expressed through
democratic elections) that certain services should be available to all, regardless of
income. Even where public services are neither publicly-provided nor publicly-financed, for social and political reasons they are usually subject to
regulation going beyond that applying to most
economic sectors.
It is also an alternative term for
civil service.
Public services tend to be those considered so essential to
modern life that for
moral reasons their universal provision should be guaranteed, and they may be associated with fundamental
human rights (such as the right to water). An example of a service which is not generally considered an essential public service is
hairdressing.
In modern,
developed countries the term public services often includes
*
education*
public transportation*
broadcasting and
communications*
electricity and
gas*
fire service*
healthcare*
police service
*
waste management*
water services
Characteristics
A public service may sometimes have the characteristics of a
public good (being
non-rivalrous and
non-excludable), but most are
merit goods, that is, services which may (according to prevailing
social norms) be
under-provided by the
market. In most cases public services are
services, i.e. they do not involve manufacturing of
good (accounting)goods such as
nuts and
bolts. They may be provided by local or national monopolies, especially in sectors which are
natural monopolies.
They may involve outputs that are hard to attribute to specific individual effort and/or hard to measure in terms of key characteristics such as quality. They often require high levels of training and education. They may attract people with a
public service ethos who wish to give something to the wider public or community through their work and are prepared to work harder for less pay as a result. (
John Kenneth Galbraith has looked at the role of such "public virtue" in economic growth.)
Historically, the widespread provision of public services in developed countries usually began in the late nineteenth century, often with the
municipal development of
gas and
water services. Later, other services such as
electricity and
healthcare began to be provided by governments. In most developed countries such services are still provided by local or national government, the biggest exceptions being the
U.S. and the
UK, where private provision is more significant. Nonetheless, such privately-provided public services are often strongly regulated, for example (in the US) by
Public Utility Commissions.
In
developing countries public services tend to be much less well developed. Water services, for example, may only be available to the
wealthy middle class. For
political reasons the service is often
subsidised, which reduces the finance available for expansion to
poorer communities.
*
Public ownership*
Public policy*
Privatization*
Public service broadcasting*
Services of General Interest (SGI)
*
Welfare state*
Public value*
New Public Management* Daniel Chavez (ed),
Beyond the Market: The Future of Public Services, TNI Public Services Yearbook 2005/6, Trans National Institute (TNI) / Public Services International Research Unit (PSIRU), February 2006
