Contracting out public utilities and social services was prominent among the tools of government that were enthusiastically promoted in the 1980’s and 1990’s within the NPM agenda. Much discussion and significant implementation have taken place since then. However, empirical research on the actual diffusion of such tool, and on the impacts it had on public administration and service delivery, is still limited.
Has contracting out really been “the new game in town”? Has its spread followed a conscious, rational logic, or has it emerged (or been limited) through processes of adaptation, isomorphism, or in response to altogether different pressures from mere efficiency or compliance? Has the economic crisis, or have other processes, significantly changed the agenda of administrative reforms, or is contracting still prominent? The proposed paper: 19 draws on a survey of available official data on contracting out in Italian municipalities in the fields of local utilities and social services, and 2) analyzes the evolution of policy discourse, financial constraints, and policy decisions which may have influenced the outcome testified by such official data. The paper argues that no significant and consistent new model of administration has yet emerged: rather, Italian municipalities are still “muddling through” a 30-year-old framework, which stood the test of time even when crossing paths with political changes and austerity policies.
