Journal ArticleDOI
Institutional change and the delivery of urban public services
TLDR
In this article, the authors view institutional systems of service provision in a "control systems" framework and identify the kinds of "error signals" a system needs to generate, and the types of "corrective mechanisms" that it may employ, and then discuss three basic modes of institutional reform, performance evaluation, decentralization and market competition, for improving the dynamic capability of systems of providing urban public services.Abstract:
Problems associated with providing efficient and equitable distribution of public services are attributable in part to the inabilities of government or other public institutions to be responsive to requirements of their clientele. To permit a better understanding of the nature of such institutional failures, and to suggest avenues of effective reform, this paper views institutional systems of service provision in a “control systems” framework. In this perspective, the elements of “feedback” are seen as essential to successful system performance over time and changing conditions. The paper identifies the kinds of “error signals” a system needs to generate, and the types of “corrective mechanisms” that it may employ, and then discusses three basic modes of institutional reform—performance evaluation, decentralization, and market competition—for improving the dynamic capability of systems of providing urban public services. Two service areas—sanitation and criminal corrections—are used for illustrating possible applications of the reform strategies.read more
Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI
"Exit, voice, and loyalty": Further reflections and a survey of recent contributions:
TL;DR: The exit-voice framework is extended in this article in connection with the search for optimal ways of organizing public services, from the State itself to day care, to the British National Health Service.
Journal ArticleDOI
Exit and voice in the organization of public services
TL;DR: Despite dramatic growth in the local public sector, and the burgeoning problems local governments have faced in delivering urban services, surprisingly little scholarly attention has been paid to questions of how to organize local public services as economic systems.
Journal Article
Kochen's influence examined bibliometrically
TL;DR: The influence of Manfred Kochen is examined, who was instrumental in the early planning of this issue of Library Trends, through a review of the various publications that have cited his work.
Book ChapterDOI
Constraints on Rural Governance in the European Union: A Role for Co-operative Associations?
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors argue that the concept of polycentricity may not be easily adapted to address current governance problems in the rural areas of the EU-27, and explore some of the likely limits of the concept in the context of rural development in the European Union.
References
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Book
American Capitalism; The Concept of Countervailing Power
TL;DR: In this article, the authors introduce the Transaction Edition, which is a collection of transactions from the 18th century with a focus on the role of centralised decision in economic decision making.
Journal ArticleDOI
American Capitalism: The Concept of Countervailing Power
Journal ArticleDOI
Toward a Rational Theory of Decentralization: Some Implications of a Mathematical Approach
Manfred Kochen,Karl W. Deutsch +1 more
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examine conditions under which decentralization is preferable from the viewpoint of rationality or cost-effectiveness, and formulate normative statements as to what would be best, or what should be done, but they are expected to include the interest of the community in ensuring adequate service at low cost, and they also include the interests of the rulers, insofar as their power in the long run depends on their capacity to respond to the demands made upon them quickly enough and adequately enough to retain their political support.
Journal ArticleDOI
Toward a Rational Theory of Decentralization: Another View
Frank Levy,Edwin M. Truman +1 more
TL;DR: In this paper, the analysis of an economic organization producing economic goods can be misleading if applied, without qualification, to organizations producing government goods, and the authors observe that analyses of the process of decentralization often fail to recognize that constraints are imposed by the nature of the organization being examined.