Refining the Use of Market Incentives in the Public Provision of Training and Related Services in the 1990s. Research Report 89-05.

This document reports on a systematic examination of the boundary between public and private delivery of vocational education and other employment and training opportunities, in order to find opportunities to shift the boundary toward greater private involvement without sacrificing public responsibilities. In addition to an executive summary, introduction, and 54-item bibliography, the document contains six sections. The first section distinguishes between provision and production. The second section addresses several provision issues in vocational education and employment and training services. The third section is entitled Public and Private Production of Federally Provided Employment and Training Services. The fourth section describes privatization approaches for restructuring provision and production arrangements, including deregulation, tax incentives, vouchers, user fees, contracting out, total withdrawal of government involvement, and sale of assets. The market alternative, and its limitations, for production arrangements for federal employment and training programs is taken up in the fifth section. The last section contains conclusions and recommendations related to performance standards, consumer information, competitive contracting requirements and procedures, and public agency coordination and promotion of increased use of market incentives. (CML)