Vouchers and the Provision of Public Services - Tapa dura

"The four editors and three institutional sponsors of 'Vouchers and the Provision of Public Services' have given us a much needed update of research on this little-known sliver of service delivery... 'Vouchers and the Provision of Public Services' is intelligently organized, and covers far more topics, including the use of vouchers in other countries, than I can relate here. If readers want to learn the last word on vouchers, this is the book that I would recommend." --Nicholas Henry, Georgia Southern University, Public Administration Review, 5/1/2002 "... collects 17 solicited papers covering the economic, political, and legal aspects of vouchers. Their use in food stamps, housing, child care, job training, education, and health care is examined... This collection is intended to fill a void in the literature, especially in the textbook treatment of vouchers, an objective it accomplishes admirably... Contributors clear up some of the misconceptions about vouchers and their uniqueness. An especially timely publication given the general trend in society toward less big governent and more decetralized decision making." --J.F. O'Connell, College of the Holy Cross, Choice, 2/1/2001

For decades, the use of vouchers has been widely debated. But often lost in the heat of debate is the fact that vouchers are just another tool in the government's tool chest, a restricted subsidy that falls somewhere between the extremes of cash and direct government provision of services. The instrument itself is not new -the 1944 GI Bill of Rights was a voucher, and vouchers for food, college aid, and housing have been in place for decades. Until now, however, the study of vouchers has been restricted to a few controversial applications. This volume, which grew out of a conference sponsored by the Brookings Institution, the Urban Institute, and the Committee for Economic Development, fills the gap, offering a framework for comparative analysis of specific policy issues related to vouchers. Its 16 essays address the economics, politics, and legal issues of voucher use and explore how vouchers are currently employed in the United States and abroad for education, child care, job training, housing, and health care. C. Eugene Steuerle is a senior fellow at the Urban Institute and has worked under four different U.S. presidents on a variety of reform issues in such areas as social security, budget, tax, and health policy. Robert D. Reischauer, a senior fellow in Economic Studies at the Brookings Institution, was director of the Congressional Budget Office from 1989 to 1995. George Peterson is a senior fellow at the Urban Institute; from 1976 to 1985 he directed the Institute's Public Finance Research Center. Van Doorn Ooms, senior vice president and director of research at the Committee for Economic Development, was formerly executive director for policy and chief economist of the Committee on the Budget, U.S. House of Representatives, 1989-1990, and was the Budget Committee's chief economist from 1981 to 1988.