Public service
The term is associated with a social consensus (usually expressed through democratic elections) that certain services should be available to all, regardless of income, physical ability or mental acuity.
[citation needed] The United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 5 is, however, a global initiative which aims to influence the provision of public services and infrastructure for marginalized demographics.
[6] Maintaining order through local delegated authority originated at least as early as the Warring States period (5th to 3rd centuries BCE) in ancient China with the institution of xiàn (prefectures) under the control of a centrally appointed prefect.
[7] A primary public service in ancient history involved ensuring the general favor of the gods through a theologically and ceremonially correct state religion.
In most developed countries, local or national governments continue to provide such services, the biggest exceptions being the U.S. and the UK, where private provision is arguably proportionally more significant.
[15] Public workers tend to make less in wages when adjusting for education, although that difference is reduced when benefits and hours are included.
[16] A study concluded that public services are associated with higher human need satisfaction and lower energy requirements while contemporary forms of economic growth are linked with the opposite.
They provide analysis about factors in social provisioning and assess that improving beneficial provisioning-factors and infrastructure would allow for sustainable forms of sufficient need satisfaction.
Following the Second World War, many countries also began to implement universal health care and expanded education under the funding and guidance of the state.
Another option, used in the Nordic countries, is to establish a corporation, but keep ownership or voting power essentially in the hands of the government.
One recent innovation, used in the UK increasingly as well as Australia and Canada, is using public-private partnerships, which involve giving a long lease to private consortia in return for partly or fully funding infrastructure costs.
