Why has the Public Sector Grown so Large in Market Societies?

Victorian-style public/private standoffs in the United Kingdom have emerged again, with prudential crises in pensions, education, health, communications, and transport. Professor Offer's text constitutes a timely intervention in current debates about the role of the private sector in providing public services, whilst focusing on the historical reaons why provision moved from the private to the public sector in the first place. Includes a bibliography.