Whenever you head to your neighborhood public library, send out mail via the post office, or visit Yosemite, you are benefiting from a longstanding American tradition: the public option. A few of the most useful and precious organizations in American life are open public options-yet these are seldom celebrated therefore. These government-supported opportunities coexist peaceably alongside private options, ensuring equivalent access and expanding chance for all.

Ganesh Sitaraman and Anne Alstott challenge decades about THE GENERAL PUBLIC Option: How to Expand Independence, Boost Opportunity, and Promote Equality of received wisdom about the correct role of federal government and consider the vast improvements that could result from the expansion of open public options. Far from illustrating the impossibility of effective authorities solutions, as their critics state, open public options hold the potential to transform American civic life, offering a wealth of answers to apparently intractable problems, from casing shortages towards the escalating price of health care.

From broadband internet to raised education, THE GENERAL PUBLIC Option reveals smart new ways to meet pressing public needs while spurring healthy competition. Far better than vouchers or tax credits, public choices could offer us all fairer choices and greater protection.