Evaluating Public Management Reforms: Principles and Practice

Governments across the world are pursuing reform in an effort to improve public services. But have these reforms actually led to improvements in services? Evaluating Public Management Reforms develops a framework for a theory-based evaluation of reforms, and then uses this framework to assess the impact of new arrangements for public service delivery in the UK.

This book identifies the conceptual and practical problems of finding clear criteria for evaluating reforms and focuses on the shifts in public management towards markets and competition, towards the publication of performance indicators, and from larger to smaller organizations. It also considers what impact these reforms have had on the efficiency, responsiveness and equity of services; comprehensively reviews the evidence on the effects of reform on health care, housing and education; and discusses the implications for public sector management.

George Boyne is Professor of Public Sector Management and Deputy Director (Research) at Cardiff Business School, Cardiff University. Catherine Farrell is Principal Lecturer in Public Policy at the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Glamorgan. Jennifer Law is Principal Lecturer in Public Sector Management at the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Glamorgan. Martin Powell is Senior Lecturer in Social Policy at the Department of Social and Policy Sciences, University of Bath. Richard Walker is Senior Lecturer in Public Policy and Management at the Department of City and Regional Planning, Cardiff University.