公共服务逆民营化何以率先在美国出现——基于美国与西班牙民营化发展的比较分析

Why did Reverse Privatization Appear First in the US?——Based on A Comparative Analysis of Privatization between the US and Spain

公共服务逆民营化已成为一种值得关注的现象。虽然很多欧洲国家公共服务民营化比例比美国更高,但逆民营化比例却远不如美国明显。是什么因素导致逆民营化在美国率先出现?为什么其他国家的逆民营化并不如美国那么明显?本文通过比较美国与西班牙地方政府固体垃圾收集和供水的制度安排发现,两国公共组织及其管理方式的不同造成了其民营化的不同发展道路:西班牙公共服务在公司层面的混合生产带来了规模经济和控制的收益;而美国在市场层面的混合生产使其公共服务生产方式更具动态性。组织形式的差异在很大程度上可以解释为什么美国收回外包的比例很高,而西班牙等欧洲国家的民营化比例却仍然呈稳定增长趋势。

The reform of privatization was one of the trends in the relorm ot aclmmxstrauon xn me western coun tries since the 1980s and its essential concept was to bring market system into Public Service Delivery and break through the government＇s monopoly. This sort of trend began to spread over the worldwide since 1980s and reach the culmination in the middle of 1990s, and then decline gradually. Till the middle and late of 1990s the develop ment of privatization in the world emerged a transformation and the ideology of privatization started to fade out to which people＇s attitudes got more rational and practical. In large number of countries appeared a new trend of re verse development which shaped mainly through a form of the reverse contracting （bringing previously contracted services back inhouse）. This kind of trend has become a phenomenon which is worth people＇s attention currently. On one hand, although conventional wisdom suggests that privatization is higher among cities in the US, the data shows contracting is actually higher among localities in many European countries. On the Other Hand, the lev els of reverse privatization in the US are much higher than in European countries Reverse contracting is becom ing more common in the US. Averaged over all governments and all services, the level of reverse contracting rose from 11 per cent in the 1992 97 period to 18 per cent in the 1997 2002 period. Reverse contracting is now be coming an important alternative service delivery and receiving more attention in the US literature as problems with the instability of contracting are more widely recognized. In Spain, For instance, by Comparing solid waste collec tion and water distribution delivery delivered in the United States and in Spain, we find one of the most important differences between the recent trends in the US and Spain is the reverse contracting is growing in the US, whereas so far it has not become an issue in Spain. It is the differences in the public sector organizations and their management ways m the two countries mat pres ented these different roads： By mixing at the level of the firm, Spanish municipalities are able to maintain econo mies of scale and still enjoy the benefits of private delivery. By mixing at the level of the market, US cities deny that possibility, and take a more dynamic way in delivery public service. This could explain one of the most impor tant differences we have found between the recent trends in the US and Spain： whereas reverse contracting is grow ing in the US, so far it has not become an issue in Spain.