Book excerpt: Contracting out for services has become a popular technique in government's perennial quest to cut spending. Yet seldom has the practice been examined from any but the public choice approach. This book explores contracting out in the important area of human services, covering the critical conditions of contracting and the vital points of politics, procedures, service quality, and effectiveness. In doing so, DeHoog uses three theoretical perspectives drawn from social science traditions: the economic perspective of market imperfections, the political perspective of cooptation, and the interdisciplinary perspective of organizational decision-making. To evaluate the perspectives and their predictions in the human services, DeHoog has examined contracting in social services (Title XX) and employment and training programs, (CETA), primarily through in-depth interviews with participants.