Can Privatisation and Commercialisation of Public Services Help Achieve The MDGs?
) (Centro de Investigación para el Desarrollo, A.C. Mexico City, Mexico) Abstract Basic services are essential to reducing poverty and improving quality of life. This working paper focuses on health, education, energy and water. These services contribute to achieving the Millennium Development Goals, as well as being goals in themselves. Over the past twenty years or so, the way in which these services are provided has been subject to considerable policy debate. There has been widespread questioning of the ability of the public sector to effectively deliver such services. Largely as a result, market-oriented solutions have been promoted as a means to overcome apparent constraints posed by state-provided services. Notwithstanding the weaknesses of state provision in many countries and localities, this working paper argues that reliance on private sector provision will fail to address the central challenges of public sector delivery. Furthermore, the process of privatisation creates an i
