In the Public Interest
Democracy, shared prosperity, and the common good
In the Public Interest is a comprehensive research and policy center on privatization and responsible contracting.
In the Public Interest
Democracy, shared prosperity, and the common good
In the Public Interest is a comprehensive research and policy center on privatization and responsible contracting.
People are fighting water privatization right now from Chile to the Rust Belt
Residents of a small Ohio city are pushing back against the proposed sale of their water and wastewater systems.
November 2019
Research Brief: As Wall Street Banks Sever Ties, Private Prison Companies Stand to Lose Over $1.9B [...]
This year, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, SunTrust, BNP Paribas, and Fifth Third Bancorp publicly announced that they would no longer provide any new financing to the private prison industry. Together [...]
July 2019
Weekly privatization report: Private prisons at center of shutdown debate | Amazon bucks | and more
Here’s our weekly analysis of privatization in the news and in communities nationwide, in order by state. Not a subscriber? Sign up here. This week’s highlights: Immigration detention, the majority of which is [...]
February 2019
Weekly privatization report: How running government “like a business” became bipartisan [...]
Here’s our weekly analysis of privatization in the news and in communities nationwide, in order by state. Not a subscriber? Sign up here. Just want the highlights? LA teachers not only won lower class sizes but also [...]
January 2019
The Pacheco Law has saved Massachusetts hundreds of millions of dollars
Twenty-five years later and the evidence is in: Massachusetts’s Taxpayer Protection Act, known as the “Pacheco Law,” has saved the state’s residents hundreds of millions of dollars. That’s the conclusion of a new [...]
January 2019
California School Accountability Report: LA charter leader found guilty
In the Public Interest's pick of recent news about the ongoing effort to privatize public education in California.
January 2019
California School Accountability Report: The tide is turning on charter schools
Here’s our pick of recent news about the ongoing effort to privatize public education in California. Want these straight to your email inbox? Sign up here. “Your proposed plan would devastate Mountain View’s [...]
December 2018
Statement on California State Board of Education’s closure of Celerity charter schools
OAKLAND—In the Public Interest Executive Director Donald Cohen issued the following statement on the California State Board of Education’s unanimous decision last week to close two Los Angeles charter schools managed [...]
May 2017
Guide: Best Practices in Municipal Waste Contracting
Best practices for municipalities aiming to protect their interests when contracting with private companies that provide waste management services.
November 2016
Featured Article
Report: The Banks That Finance Private Prison Companies November 2016Featured Article
Buying Influence: How Private Prison Companies Expand Their Control of America’s Criminal Justice System October 2016Featured Article
Report: How privatization increases inequality September 2016Featured Article
Fact Sheet: GEO Group and Corrections Corporation of America Spend Billions of Taxpayer Dollars Purchasing Smaller Companies September 2016Featured Article
Fact Sheet: Private Prison Companies Encourage Mass Incarceration by Owning Facilities July 2016Featured Article
Research Brief: How Private Prison Companies Increase Recidivism June 2016Academica’s Florida Real Estate Operations
"Academica's Florida Real Estate Operations" provides analysis of for-profit charter school operator Academica’s role as a landlord to schools in Florida.
June 2016
Featured Article
Cutting Corners in America’s Criminal Justice System April 2016Featured Article
Report: What Government Contractors Really Mean When They Say They’ll Do It Cheaper April 2016Featured Article
Private Prison CEOs Continue to Make Much More than the Correctional Officers that Work for Them March 2016Featured Article
Building America While Building Our Middle Class March 2016Featured Article
How Private Prisons Take Tax Dollars Away from Fixing Our Criminal Justice System February 2016Wisconsin Says “No” to Privatized Water
With the lead poisoning tragedy in Flint, Michigan, still playing out in the national headlines, we’ve been due for good news about our nation’s water—and Wisconsin just delivered it. Yesterday, state leaders [...]
February 2016
Featured Article
Private Companies Profit from Almost Every Function of America’s Criminal Justice System January 2016Featured Article
A Guide to Evaluating Pay for Success Programs and Social Impact Bonds December 2015Featured Article
Buying Access: How Corporations Influence Decision Makers at Corrections Conferences, Trainings, and Meetings August 2015Payoff: How Congress Ensures Private Prison Profit with an Immigrant Detention Quota
This report provides an in-depth assessment of the inception and implementation of the quota, with a specific focus on the role played by for-profit, private prison corporations. [...]
April 2015
Closing the Books: How Government Contractors Hide Public Records
This brief provides case studies that illustrate how private contractors hide three key types of information: (1) the fees they charge the public, (2) how they spend public funds, and (3) details on the quality of public [...]
March 2015
Featured Article
Virtual Public Education in California: A Study of Student Performance, Management Practices and Oversight Mechanisms at [...] February 2015Charter School Reform Poll Memo
Click here for full PDF of Poll Memo A new survey shows that Americans overwhelmingly favor a series of proposals to reform charter schools. Proposals garnering broad support include initiatives to strengthen charter school [...]
February 2015
Featured Article
Standing Guard: How Unaccountable Contracting Fails Governments and Taxpayers December 2014Featured Article
Shift: How Taxpayers Began Reclaiming Control of their Public Services June 2014Featured Article
Race to the Bottom: How Outsourcing Public Services Rewards Corporations and Punishes the Middle Class June 2014Who’s The Boss: Restoring Accountability for Labor Standards in Outsourced Work
Lead companies that outsource distance themselves from the labor-intensive parts of their businesses and their responsibilities for those workers. [...]
May 2014
Charter School Vulnerabilities to Waste, Fraud, and Abuse
This report echos the warning issued by the OIG and to inform the public and lawmakers of the mounting risk that an inadequately regulated charter industry presents to our communities and taxpayers.
May 2014
Do Poor Kids Deserve Lower-Quality Education Than Rich Kids? Evaluating School Privatization [...]
This report evaluates the “blended learning” model of education exemplified by Rocketship and seeks to understand how the “school accountability” legislation debated during the most recent legislative session would [...]
April 2014
Backgrounder: The Cost of Private Prisons
The private prison industry claims that governments can save money by privatizing prisons, but what does the evidence actually indicate? This backgrounder summarizes recent research and state reports related to private [...]
April 2014
Overlooking Oversight: A Lack of Oversight in the Garden State is Placing New Jersey Residents and [...]
Click here for Full ReportDirect Link Governments and to some extent scholars have long treated contract oversight as a trivial or at best mundane sideline to broader issues of privatization. This is a critical mistake. In [...]
March 2014
The Decision to Contract Out: Understanding the Full Economic and Social Impacts
While many studies have examined the risks to government in contracting (such as uncertainties about costs or quality) there has been less attention to the broader social and economic effects of contracting.
March 2014
Social Impact Bonds: Overview and Considerations
This paper provides background information and a framework to help respond to the question of whether a SIB would be a good way to expand funding for a particular intervention or population in a given state or community.
March 2014
More Dangerous, More Costly: An Analysis of Transportation Outsourcing
By analyzing safety inspection and financial data gathered by Minnesota state agencies, this report finds that outsourcing transportation services leads, on average, to higher safety inspection failure rates and higher [...]
March 2014
Featured Article
Infrastructure Justice: Building Equity into Infrastructure Financing January 2014At Our Expense: Federal Contractors that Harm Workers Also Shortchange Taxpayers
New analysis from the Center for American Progress Action Fund shows that contracting with companies with egregious records of workplace violations also frequently results in poor performance of government contracts.
December 2013
Creating Scandals Instead of Jobs: The Failures of Privatized State Economic Development Agencies
This report details the litany of scandals created by the advent of privatized state economic development agencies.
October 2013
Death Yards: Continuing Problems with Arizona’s Correctional Health Care
This report explores the grossly inadequate medical, mental health and dental care provided by private contractors in Arizona's corrections system.
October 2013