Statistics in the Governing of Municipal Services

Fading faith in social planning and renewed faith in the market as a regulatory device has had a clear impact at the municipal level. This is tempered, however, by the continued repsonsibility of municipalities to provide services for the entire population. Some claim that the market solves this problem as well: Through market exposure and market emulation, the community can proved the most and best quality services at the lowest total cost. However, the municipality retains a responsibility for quality control. And since an ideal market is based on full information on which to base choices, new service arrangements also require new provisions of statistics.

A close study of statistics practices as applied to the evaluation of municipal services promises not only to tell of changes in the production and use of statistics as a municipal tool, but also to tell us much as to the nature of the municipal reforms referred to as "New Public Management".