Why did some governments try to decentralize bureaucratic decision making in the 1980s?

In the 1980s, many governments sought to decentralize bureaucratic decision-making as a core component of the New Public Management (NPM) movement. This shift was primarily driven by fiscal crises, as rising state expenditures and economic pressures—such as oil crises—led to an urgent quest to cut costs and improve efficiency.1

Governments aimed to decentralize by transferring the delivery of services to autonomous or semiautonomous agencies. Proponents argued that this approach offered several benefits:1

• Efficiency: By granting autonomy, service providers could focus on the efficient delivery of quality services without the burden of evaluating alternative policies.1
• Policy Focus: Policymakers could become more focused and adventurous if they were not preoccupied with the day-to-day management of existing service providers.1
• Performance Incentives: A "hands-off" relationship allowed the state to introduce performance incentives, applying private-sector management techniques—such as management by results and performance measures—to the public sector.1

Ultimately, these reforms sought to make public services more accountable to consumers by introducing incentive structures like contracting out and quasi-markets, shifting the focus from procedural compliance to output and performance.12