David L. Littmann Encourages State Legislators “To Sort Wheat From Chaff” in Book “Price of Government”

MIDLAND — David L. Littmann, former chief economist at Comerica Bank, urges state legislators today to deploy the "very useful and prescriptive" work on "introducing competition into the public sector" in the much-discussed book "The Price of Government," by David Osborne and Peter Hutchinson. He encourages legislators, however, to be "careful to sort the wheat from the chaff" in the book as a whole.

Littmann’s thoughts appear in a book review (www.mackinac.org/6984) just posted on the Web site of the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, a research and educational institute headquartered in Midland, Mich. Littmann, who recently assumed the title of "senior economist" at the Center and joined its Board of Scholars, argues: "Osborne and Hutchinson do provide two very useful and prescriptive sections on charter schools and the efficacy of introducing competition into the public sector. Michigan’s public officials would do well to focus on these items and be wary of [other portions of the book]."