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{{Short description|Public part of the economy}}
{{Redirect|Public organization|the type of Thai agency|State agencies of Thailand#Public organizations}}
{{use mdy dates|date=May 2021}}
{{use American English|date=May 2021}}
{{Economic sectors}}
[[File:Employment in the UK Public Sector, December 2013.png|thumb|Employment in the UK Public Sector, December 2013]]
The '''public sector''', also called the '''state sector''', is the part of the economy composed of both [[public service]]s and [[public enterprise]]s. Public sectors include the public goods and governmental services such as the [[military]], [[law enforcement]], [[infrastructure]], [[public transit]], [[public education]], along with [[Universal health care|health care]] and those working for the government itself, such as [[Official|elected officials]]. The public sector might provide services that a non-payer cannot be excluded from (such as street lighting), services which benefit all of society rather than just the individual who uses the service.<ref>[http://www.investorwords.com/3947/public_sector.html "public sector"]. ''Investorwords'', WebFinance, Inc. 2016.</ref> Public enterprises, or state-owned enterprises, are self-financing commercial enterprises that are under [[public ownership]] which provide various private goods and services for sale and usually operate on a commercial basis.

Organizations that are not part of the public sector are either part of the [[private sector]] or [[voluntary sector]]. The private sector is composed of the [[economic sector]]s that are intended to earn a profit for the owners of the enterprise. The voluntary, civic, or social sector concerns a diverse array of non-profit organizations emphasizing [[civil society]]. In the United Kingdom, the term "wider public sector" is often used, referring to public sector organizations outside central government.<ref>Glover, A., [http://sites.telfer.uottawa.ca/womensenterprise/files/2014/06/Procurement-Glover-Review_Eng.pdf Accelerating the SME economic engine: through transparent, simple and strategic procurement], paragraph 4.26, accessed 7 October 2022</ref>

==Organization==
The organization of the public sector can take several forms, including:
* Direct administration funded through [[taxation]]; the delivering organization generally has no specific requirement to meet [[commerce|commercial]] success criteria, and production decisions are determined by government.
* [[State-owned enterprise]]s; which differ from direct administration in that they have greater management autonomy and operate according to commercial criteria, and production decisions are not generally taken by a government (although goals may be set for them by the government).
*The public sector in many countries is organized at three levels: Federal or National, Regional (State or Provincial), and Local (Municipal or County).
* Partial [[outsourcing]] (of the scale many businesses do, e.g. for IT services) is considered a public sector model.

A borderline form is as follows:
* Complete [[outsourcing]] or contracting out, with a privately owned corporation delivering the entire service on behalf of the government. This may be considered a mixture of private sector operations with public ownership of assets, although in some forms the private sector's control and/or risk is so great that the service may no longer be considered part of the public sector (Barlow et al., 2010). (See the United Kingdom's [[Private Finance Initiative]].)
* Public employee unions represent workers. Since contract negotiations for these workers are dependent on the size of government budgets, this is the one segment of the labor movement that can actually contribute directly to the people with ultimate responsibility for its livelihood. While their giving pattern matches that of other unions, public sector unions also concentrate contributions on members of Congress from both parties who sit on committees that deal with federal budgets and agencies.

==Infrastructure==
''Infrastructure'' includes areas that support both the public's members and the public sector itself. Streets and highways are used both by those who work for the public sector and also by the citizenry. The former, who are public employees, are also part of the citizenry.{{citation needed|date=May 2021}}

[[Public road]]s, [[bridge]]s, [[tunnel]]s, [[water supply]], [[sewage|sewers]], [[electrical grid]]s and [[telecommunication]] networks are among the public infrastructure.

==Criticism==
[[Right-libertarian]] and [[Austrian School]] economists have criticized the idea of public sector provision of goods and services as inherently inefficient.<ref name=Rothbard>Rothbard, Murray (1961). "The Fallacy of the 'Public Sector'". ''The Logic of Action Two, Application and Criticism from the Austrian School''. {{ISBN?}}.</ref> In 1961, [[Murray Rothbard]] wrote: "Any reduction of the public sector, any shift of activities from the public to the private sphere, is a net moral and economic gain."<ref name=Rothbard/>

American [[Libertarianism in the United States|libertarians]] and [[anarcho-capitalists]] have also argued that the system by which the public sector is funded, namely taxation, is itself [[Taxation as theft|coercive and unjust]].<ref>Murray N. Rothbard (1998). "The Moral Status of Relations to the State", chapter 24 of ''The Ethics of Liberty''. Humanities Press 1982, New York University Press 1998. {{ISBN|978-0-8147-7506-6}}.</ref> However, even notable [[small-government]] proponents have pushed back on this point of view, citing the ultimate necessity of a public sector for provision of certain services, such as national defense, public works and utilities, and pollution controls.<ref>Ellickson, R. C. (2017). "A Hayekian Case Against Anarcho-Capitalism: Of Street Grids, Lighthouses, and Aid to the Destitute". ''NYUJL & Liberty'', 11, 371.</ref>

== See also ==
{{Portal|Economics}}
* [[Civil service]]
* [[Government agency]]
* [[List of countries by public sector]]
* [[Nationalization]]
* [[Privatization]]
* [[Private sector]]
* [[Public ownership]]
* [[Public–private partnership]]
* [[Business case#Public sector projects|Public sector business cases for projects]]
* [[Special-purpose district]]
* [[State-owned enterprise]]

== References ==
=== Citations ===
{{Reflist}}

=== Sources ===
* Barlow, J. Roehrich, J.K. and Wright, S. (2010). "De facto privatisation or a renewed role for the EU? Paying for Europe's healthcare infrastructure in a recession." ''Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine''. 103:51–55.
* Lloyd G. Nigro, ''Decision Making in the Public Sector'' (1984), Marcel Dekker Inc.
* David G. Carnevale, ''Organizational Development in the Public Sector'' (2002), Westview Pr.
* Jan-Erik Lane, ''The Public Sector: Concepts, Models and Approaches'' (1995), Sage Pubns.
* A Primer on Public-Private Partnerships [http://blog-pfm.imf.org/pfmblog/2008/02/a-primer-on-pub.html#more PFM blog: A primer on Public-Private Partnerships]
* What is the Public Sector? Definition & Examples. (2016, June & July). Retrieved June 10, 2017, from [http://www.privacysense.net/terms/public-sector/ What is the Public Sector? Definition & Examples]

{{Civil service}}
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[[Category:Public sector| ]]
[[Category:Public economics]]
[[Category:Economic sectors]]
[[Category:Libertarian theory]]

Public sector - Revision history

Ajay Kumar: Created a new article