I’ll eventually tell you the reason I’m asking this, but right now I’m gathering reader sentiments to widen my expertise.

Here’s the issue:

Some people maintain that privatization of things like healthcare, education, and transportation (like railroads) is always better than things like government-controlled education, national rail systems, and national health systems (like the NHS in the UK and national healthcare in Sweden) because “market forces” will always do a better job than “control from above”. And indeed, at least for healthcare, in Sweden, the UK, and Poland there have sprouted parallel systems of private medicine because (presumably) the national healthcare system can’t do a good job. (Waiting lists for treatment can be very long.) I think Canada has largely avoided privatization of medicine.

Here’s my question to readers: do you agree with the privatization of healthcare, education, and transportation are almost invariably better than government-regulated or government-run entities?

What about funding for science research: should it also be taken out of the hands of the state and left to the private sector?

If you have good reasons for your opinion besides anecdotes or your gut feeling (e.g., studies of the effects of privatization), that would be appreciated.