Law & Society Sunday

As the Law & Society Association’s annual meeting wraps up today in Las Vegas, there’s an interesting paper by Nestor Davidson (Colorado), Relational Contracts and the Privatization of Social Welfare: A Case Study:

Scholarly literature on private sector delivery of public services, particularly in the context of social welfare, raises important theoretical questions about the ideological underpinnings of the privatization movement and the challenges and opportunities presented in maintaining public values when services are provided by private entities. These debates would benefit, however, from more detailed examinations of how, in practice, public norms and efficacy translate into programmatic design and implementation. To this end, this paper will present a case-study of privatization in the arena of affordable housing. In particular, drawing on relational-contract literature, the paper will focus on the nature of the long-term relationship that develops between the governmental entity and the provider of services, exploring ways in which an often adversarial relationship can be rethought as a long-term collaborative effort.