Showing papers on "Government published in 1978"

The Expansion of the Public Economy: A Comparative Analysis*

Abstract: In spite of the traditional legitimacy accorded the market mechanism of the private sector in advanced capitalist nations, governments in those nations have become more influential as providers of social services and income supplements, producers of goods, managers of the economy, and investors of capital. And in order to finance these various activities the revenues of public authorities have increased dramatically–to a point where they are now equivalent to one-third to one-half of a nation's economic product.This growth in governmental activity in advanced capitalist society is examined by considering the causes, and some of the consequences, of the expansion of the public economy–defined, following Schumpeter's discussion of the “tax state,” in terms of the extractive role of government. The primary concern of this article is to discover why some nations have experienced a far greater rate of increase in recent years and, as a result, have a much larger public economy than other nations. Five types of explanation are elaborated to account for the growth of the scope of governmental activity: (1) the level and rate of growth in the economic product; (2) the degree to which the fiscal structure of a nation relies on indirect, or “invisible,” taxes; (3) politics–in particular the partisan composition of government and the frequency of electoral competition; (4) the institutional structure of government; and (5) the degree of exposure of the economy to the international marketplace. The article evaluates the five explanations with data for 18 nations, and concludes by discussing some implications of the analysis.

Principles of sedimentology

Abstract: This book has been written in response to the rapid expansion and diversification of sedimentology during the last 30 years. We believe that a critical synthesis of this field is a matter of importance and urgency. The study of sedimentology involves a dynamic interplay with many of the other branches of geology. Its tools range from those used to measure the submicroscopic to ones involving the use of radar, the reflection seismograph, and Earth satellites. In the introduction of Part I we define the wide scope of sedimentology, as we see it, a scope which may be broader than that of some of our colleagues. Actually sedimentology is such an unfamiliar term to some geologists that it has not yet become a heading in the index section of the Bibliography and Index of Geology. This book is intended to be used as a text in undergraduate and graduate courses of sedimentology. In writing this book we have aimed primarily at junior and senior students. Our style of writing in the early chapters is consistent with lower-level undergraduate courses, but we believe that as the student advances he or she progressively should become accustomed to a more professional style. Therefore, the later chapters are written at a professional level. To those who simply scan the book, this lack of uniformity may seem perplexing, but it is deliberate and has the student in mind. Beginning graduate students in sedimentology will also find this text useful. Chapters 8 to 14, especially Chapters 8, 10, 11, and 12, are central to the professional geologist employed in oil and gas exploration or exploitation, and in the study of groundwater or economic geology either in industry or government. Chapter 9 may be of interest to geologists concerned with environment.

An Empirical Study of Politico-Economic Interaction in the United States: A Reply

Abstract: N modern society, where government has assumed a major role in economic affairs and where the electorate has made it increasingly responsible for material well-being, it has become important to analyse the interaction between economic and political systems. Government should no longer be regarded as exogenous to the economic system. This is particularly the case with respect to econometric model building. As some authors have noted, an econometric model may be subject to serious misspecification if an endogenous variable (such as government expenditure) is treated as if it were exogenous.' The study of politico-economic interdependence also has important consequences for forecasting. As the future course of economic events is strongly dependent on government action, existing macroeconometric models that regard government as exogenous are of limited use for prediction. Furthermore, economic policy advice is often unsuccessful because it does not take political repercussions into account. A deflationary policy, for example, will hardly be adopted by a government just before an election because it carries with it a high risk of leading to government's losing the election. Politicoeconometric modelling helps economists concerned with government advising to advance proposals that have a reasonable chance of being put into action. This study puts forward some simple theoretical hypotheses concerning the nature of the interrelationship between the economy and the polity, particularly with respect to (central) government. The basic relationships are reflected in the popularity function, which describes the impact of economic conditions on government popularity; and in the reaction function, which shows how government uses policy instruments to steer the economy in a desired direction. These relationships are econometrically tested with quarterly data for the United States for the period 1953-1975. In the model both voters and government are assumed to be utility maximizers, and government's behavior is restricted by various economic, political and administrative constraints. The analysis shows that the government's (or in the case here dealt with, the president's) popularity is significantly reduced when the rate of unemployment and/or of inflation rises, and that it is significantly increased when the growth rate of private consumption rises. Government reacts to changes in its popularity because this is taken as an indicator of future electoral outcome. When popularity is low, it tries to steer the economy so as to increase its re-election chances; when popularity is high enough, it can afford to pursue ideologicallyoriented policies, which need not always be popular with the electorate. There have been a number of papers that have dealt with the influence of economic variables on election outcomes and on government popularity, most of which are unsatisfactory on theoretical and statistical grounds. There are, on the other hand, only a few that have been concerned with government reaction functions. Moreover, these studies have been either apolitical and interested only in the implied weights of a welfare function (e.g., Friedlaender, 1973); or they have related to only a particular section of the economy (e.g., Received for publication June 14, 1976. Revision accepted for publication November 30, 1976. * University of Zurich. A first version of this paper was written during a stay at the Cowles Foundation, Yale University. It was revised in the light of comments received when it was presented at the Cowles Foundation Seminar and at seminars at Princeton University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the Center for Study of Public Choice, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. The authors are especially grateful to A. S. Blinder, J. M. Buchanan, R. C. Fair, G. M. Heal, D. F. Hendry, C. Goodrich, G. H. Kramer, G. Kirchgaessner, D. MacRae, W. D. Nordhaus, W. E. Oates, E. R. Tufte, G. Tullock, R. Wagner, and to the anonymous referees. ' See Crotty (1973), Goldfeld and Blinder (1972), Blinder and Solow (1974, pp. 69-77).

Interorganizational policy making : limits to coordination and central control

Abstract: In this volume, experience in a number of Western nations and in a variety of policy areas is drawn upon to consider what structural features of the political-administrative system might account for the inability of governments to guide socio-economic processes and developments more effectively. The focus is on the interorganizational characteristics of government problem solving -- that both the formulation and implementation of public policy increasingly involve different governmental levels and agencies, as well as interactions between public authorities and private organizations.

Ethics for Bureaucrats: An Essay on Law and Values, Second Edition

Abstract: This important text integrates the study of ethics into public management training, highlighting Supreme Court opinions on three specific constitutional values-equality, freedom, and property-focusing on the pedagogical aspects of law and posing challenging questions to help readers apply theories to concrete situations. It includes a case index for further research. Topics of specific interest include abortion, affirmative action, bureaucratic bashing, civil disobedience, the Ethics in Government Act of 1978, the Iran-Contra scandal, moral absolutism, privileged communications, religious fundamentalism, and whistle blowing. The Midwest Review of Pubic Administration lauds it as "…a unique teaching tool."

Consumer-choice health plan (first of two parts). Inflation and inequity in health care today: alternatives for cost control and an analysis of proposals for national health insurance.

Abstract: The financing system for medical costs in this country suffers from severe inflation and inequity. The tax-supported system of fee for service for doctors, third-party intermediaries and cost reimbursement for hospitals produces inflation by rewarding cost-increasing behavior and failing to provide incentives for economy. The system is inequitable because the government pays more on behalf of those who choose more costly systems of care, because tax benefits subsidize the health insurance of the well-to-do, while not helping many low-income people, and because employment health insurance does not guarantee continuity of coverage and is regressive in its financing. Analysis of previous proposals for national health insurance shows none to be capable of solving most of these problems. Direct economic regulation by government will not improve the situation. Cost controls through incentives and regulated competition in the private sector are most likely to be effective.

Crowding Out Or Crowding In? The Economic Consequences of Financing Government Deficits

Abstract: The prevailing view of the economic consequences of financing government deficits, as reflected in the recent economics literature and in recent public policy debates, reflects serious misunderstandings. Debt-financed deficits need not "crowd out" any private investment, and may even "crowd in" some. Using a model including three assets - money, government bonds, and real capital - the analysis in this paper shows that the direction of the portfolio effect of bond issuing on private investment depends on the relative substitutabilities among these three assets in the public's aggregate portfolio. Since the all-important substitutabilities that make the difference between "crowding out" and "crowding in" are determined in part by the government's choice of debt instrument for financing the deficit, this analysis points to the potential importance of a policy tool that public policy discussion has largely neglected for over a decade - debt management policy. When monetary policy is non-accommodative, within limits debt management policy can take its place in augmenting the potency of fiscal policy, or in improving the trade-off between short-run stimulation and investment for long-run growth.

Why Businessmen Distrust Their State: The Political Consciousness of American Corporate Executives

Abstract: The most characteristic, distinctive and persistent belief of American corporate executives is an underlying suspicion and mistrust of government. It distinguishes the American business community not only from every other bourgeoisie, but also from every other legitimate organization of political interests in American society. The scope of direct and indirect government support for corporate growth and profits does not belie this contention; on the contrary, it makes it all the more paradoxical. Why should the group in American society that has disproportionately benefited from governmental policies continue to remain distrustful of political intervention in the economy?It is of course possible to attribute at least some of the public distrust of government by members of the business community to political posturing; continually to denounce government is a way of assuring that the policies of government reflect corporate priorities. Wilbert E. Moore suggests:When businessmen did, and do, make extreme, ideologically oriented pronouncements on freedom from political interference, it is surely fair to say that they do not mean to be taken with total seriousness…Often, in fact, the sayers and the doers are not the same people… [T]he extreme spokesmen of business ideology are more often lawyers and public relations men than they are practicing executives…These are generally men, who like professors and Congressmen, ‘have never met a payroll’.

The estimation of labor supply models using experimental data

Abstract: For many years there has been interest in replacing the existing complex transfer system in the United States with a nationwide negative income tax (NIT) program.' The feasibility and desirability of an NIT, however, depend on its effects on aggregate labor supply (and its cost). Interest in predicting these aggregate effects has motivated considerable empirical research on labor supply. The first studies used existing data, usually cross-sectional, to estimate the parameters of labor supply functions.2 Unfortunately, the range of estimates in these studies is disturbingly large and of limited usefulness to policymakers.3 Consequently, a new approach to labor supply research has been followed social experimentation.4 Several experiments have been funded by the federal government to test the effects of alternative NIT programs on labor supply. The first experiment, the New Jersey Experiment, was conducted in New Jersey and Pennsylvania from 1968 to 1972.5 Other experiments have taken place in Gary, Indiana from 1970 to 1974, and in rural areas of Iowa and North Carolina from 1969 to 1973. The largest and most comprehensive of these experiments began in 1971 in Seattle, Washington and Denver, Colorado and is still taking place. In principle, a controlled experiment affords the opportunity to overcome most of the problems inherent in nonexperimental research, because in an experiment, the budget constraints of individuals are exogenously shifted in a measurable way. In practice, however, the experiments have been beset with their own unique set of econometric problems. These problems include the nonrandom assignment of experimental treatment, small samples, truncation of response, limited duration, participation in other welfare programs both before and during the experiment by sample members, and the selection of nonrepresentative samples.6 In this paper, a methodology is presented that attempts to deal with these problems. Experimental data from the Seattle and *Economists, SRI International. The research reported in this paper was performed under contracts with the states of Washington and Colorado, prime contractors for the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, under contract numbers SRS-70-53 and SRS-71-18, respectively. The opinions expressed in the paper are our own and should not be construed as representing the opinions or policies of the states of Washington or Colorado, or any agency of the U.S. government. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the Summer 1976 meetings of the Econometric Society and in seminars at the National Bureau of Economic Research and Mathematica Policy Research. Jodie Allen, Yoram Barzel, David Betson, Michael Boskin, Glen Cain, Joseph Corbett, Irwin Garfinkel, David Greenberg, Terry Johnson, Richard Kaluzny, Richard Kasten, Robert Lerman, Stanley Masters, Myles Maxfield, Robert Moffit, Larry Orr, Harold Watts, and Robert Willis provided valuable comments on various drafts of this paper. We are, of course, solely responsible for the views presented and for any remaining errors. Helen Cohn, Diane Hollenbeck, Paul McElherne, Gary Stieger, and Steven Spickard provided expert programming assistance. I Milton Friedman is usually credited with developing the concept of a negative income tax. Robert Lampman and James Tobin (1965) among others also made early contributions to the concept. 2An excellent collection of such studies is presented in Glen Cain and Harold Watts. 3See Keeley for a survey of these studies and a discussion of some of the econometric difficulties that lead to such a wide range of estimates. 4Heather Ross (1966) is credited with first conceiving the idea of an NIT experiment. Guy Orcutt and Alice Orcutt (1968) first published a paper outlining an experimental design. 5The New Jersey Experiment is described in David Kershaw and Jerilyn Fair. Watts and Albert Rees (1977a, b) and Joseph Pechman and P. Michael Timpane present the results from this experiment. 6See Henry Aaron, Keeley, and Keeley and Robins for a critical discussion of many of these problems.

Crowding Out or Crowding in? The Economic Consequences of Financing Government Deficits

Abstract: The prevailing view of the economic consequences of financing government deficits, as reflected in the recent economics literature and in recent public policy debates, reflects serious misunderstandings. Debt-financed deficits need not "crowd out" any private investment, and may even "crowd in" some. Using a model including three assets - money, government bonds, and real capital - the analysis in this paper shows that the direction of the portfolio effect of bond issuing on private investment depends on the relative substitutabilities among these three assets in the public's aggregate portfolio. Since the all-important substitutabilities that make the difference between "crowding out" and "crowding in" are determined in part by the government's choice of debt instrument for financing the deficit, this analysis points to the potential importance of a policy tool that public policy discussion has largely neglected for over a decade - debt management policy. When monetary policy is non-accommodative, within limits debt management policy can take its place in augmenting the potency of fiscal policy, or in improving the trade-off between short-run stimulation and investment for long-run growth.

Elections and the Mobilization of Popular Support

Abstract: While elections are normally seen as means by which citizens influence leaders, elections can also be viewed as mechanisms which serve to increase elite control over citizens. The opportunity for citizens to participate in leadership selection may also be an opportunity for leaders to coopt citizens by implicating them in the government's creation. This possibility is tested with data from the 1968 and 1972 American presidential elections by comparing citizens' preand post-election attitudes toward the regime, leaders, and policy. The elections' largest impact appeared to occur in attitudes toward the regime. Changes in citizen response are discussed in terms of three mechanisms of attitude change, each of which has different implications for leaders and the regime.

A History of Japan

Abstract: This is the concluding volume of a three-volume work that culminates the life study of the West's most distinguished scholar of Japanese history. A straightforward narrative of the development of Japanese civilization to 1867, the three volumes constitute the first large-scale comprehensive history of Japan. Unlike the renowned Short Cultural History, it is concerned mainly with political and social phenomena and only incidentally touches on religion, literature, and the arts. The treatment is primarily descriptive and factual, but the author offers some pragmatic interpretations and suggests comparisons with the history of other peoples. A History of Japan: 1615-1867 describes the political and social development of Japan during the two and half centuries of rule by the Tokugawa Shoguns, a period of remarkable development in almost ever aspects of the national life. Under Ieyasu, the first Tokugawa Shogun, a system of checks and balances to keep the great feudatories in order began to be devised. His successors continued this policy, and indeed the essential features of government by the Tokugawa Shoguns was a determination to keep the peace. Freed from civil war, the energies of the nation were devoted to increasing production of goods in agriculture, manufacturers, and mining. Breaches in the traditional policy of isolation began to occur with the arrival of foreign ships in Japanese waters, the first intruders being the Russian in the 1790s. Thereafter, the government struggled to keep foreign ships away from Japanese ports, but before long the pressure of the Western powers, strengthened by the arrival of warships under the command of Commodore Perry in 1853, forced Japan to take part in international affairs.

Political System Support and Public Response to the Energy Crisis

Abstract: This paper considers the impact of diffuse support for the political system on public compliance with official policy by studying citizens' reactions to the energy crisis of 1974. Using data from a survey of Los Angeles residents, the paper examines these specific hypotheses: (1) that diffuse support promotes conformity to the government's "line" during a crisis; (2) that longstanding symbolic loyalties, rather than the impact of the crisis on the individual's personal life, determine attitudinal conformity to the government's "line," and (3) that behavioral compliance to official policy is determined more by situational constraints than by underlying political attitudes. The main results of the study were that diffuse support for the political system had only a weak relationship to attitudinal agreement with the official "line" on the energy crisis, overshadowed by the role of political partisanship. And diffuse support did not have any impact on self-reported changes in behavior. Behavioral compliance in the form of reduced energy consumption was instead controlled by situational constraints. This implies that widespread public cynicism about the political process need not undermine the effectiveness of public policy. Moreover, "support" for the political system should be viewed as a multi-faceted phenomenon involving dimensions of response that have different determinants.

Report to the American Physical Society by the study group on nuclear fuel cycles and waste management

Abstract: Utilization of nuclear fuels and management of nuclear wastes have become major topics of public discussion Under the auspices of the American Physical Society this study was undertaken as an independent evaluation of technical issues in the use of fissionable materials in nuclear fuel cycles, together with their principal economic, environmental, health and safety implications Reprocessing and recycling in light water reactors were examined, along with technical measures proposed as possible safeguards; advanced reactor fuel cycles were also studied for their resource and safeguards implications Much of the work of the group centered on the principal alternatives for disposal of radioactive wastes and control of effluents The group examined the research and development programs sponsored by government agencies along with associated relationships among agencies and between government and private industry Available information was also considered on nuclear fuel resources, and on important economic and environmental aspects of the various fuel cycles in order to strive for a balanced comparative study The report presents many conclusions on various aspects of the nuclear fuel cycles and also provides recommendations concerning present utilization and future improvement of fuel cycle technology

The doctors' dilemma.

Abstract: IN the preface to the Doctor's Dilemma, George Bernard Shaw says: Make up your mind how many doctors the community needs to keep it well. Do not register more or less than this number; and let registration constitute the doctor a civil servant with a dignified living wage paid out of public funds. Although this statement was made in 1911, it has a remarkably contemporary ring and could as easily be made in 1978 by a consumer advocate or by a government official. It also constitutes the major dilemma of American medicine today — that is, how to deploy the . . .

The British in Palestine: The Mandatory Government and the Arab-Jewish Conflict 1917-1929

Abstract: Establishment of the military government -, 1917-1918 OETA versus Zionism, 1918-1919 the all of the military goverment, 1919-1920 Herbert Samuel and the Palestinian problem the riots of may 1921 the rise and fall of Palestine, 1921-1923 British officials and the development of the Jewish national home, 1923-1929 Arab officials inm the government of Palestine the riots of August 1929.

Public History: Its Origins, Nature, and Prospects

Abstract: IN ITS SIMPLEST MEANING, Public History refers to the employment of historians and the historical method outside of academia: in government, private corporations, the media, historical societies and museums, even in private practice. Public Historians are at work whenever, in their professional capacity, they are part of the public process. An issue needs to be resolved, a policy must be formed, the use of a resource or the direction of an activity must be more effectively planned-and an historian is called upon to bring in the dimension of time: this is Public History.

From Social Issues to Public Policy

Abstract: Examines how social issues are translated into governmental action Details actual social issues and governmental response Suggests kind of response a citizen can expect, and how government can be sensitized to issues

Voters, legislators and bureaucracy: Institutional design in the public sector

Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to outline a theory of representative democracy which explains why rational actors construct an excessively bureaucratized government. We define excessive bureaucratization as the selection of an inefficient production technology for the public sector, characterized by relative factor proportions that entail more bureaucracy than the proportions that would minimize total costs. Thus, the question of excessive bureaucracy is related to but conceptually different from whether a particular policy is worthwhile. Furthermore, it presumes a concern more fundamental than the observation that implementing a public policy inevitably requires the expenditure of scarce resources.

Spatially differentiated air-pollutant emission changes: an economic and legal analysis

Abstract: This paper explores a number of economic, administrative, and legal issues that impinge on the design of a system of emission charges to achieve the national ambient air quality standards at minimum cost. The question of interest is, ''if an emission charge is to be levied, what should the nature of that charge be.'' Two related dimensions of this issue are whether the tax rate should be spatially differentiated or uniform and whether the charge should be implemented nationally by Congress or by some lower level of government. The analysis indicates that locally administered, spatially differentiated air-pollutant emission charges appear to offer a very real public policy option. Not only are they compatible with the existing legislation, but they offer potentially large savings in the costs of achieving the Congressionally mandated ambient air quality standards. While their legal basis is not totally clear because no specific legislation has been brought before the judiciary, the existing precedents appear quite favorable. And, finally, the published administrative objections to them disappear upon closer examination. Far from being merely an intellectual curiosity, spatially differentiated emission charges appear to offer the nation a realistic opportunity to achieve its air-pollution goals at significantly lower cost. 22more » references.« less

Building societies and the inner city

Abstract: The issue of whether mortgage institutions designate areas of cities where they will not lend has become increasingly important in the light of recent debates about the future of the inner city. This paper examines the evidence of 'redlining' by building societies and comments on the reasons for such practices and their wider implications. FOR several decades concern has been expressed about the housing situation in the inner areas of British cities. Considerable attention has been devoted to the identification and examination of the poor housing conditions which exist there and to the problems of government interventions in the forms of clearance and redevelopment and rehabilitation.' Until recently, however, relatively little work has been concerned with private as opposed to public investment and the position of owner occupation in inner-city areas. The purpose of this article is to examine in some detail one aspect of this issue: the reluctance of building societies to grant mortgages on properties located in specific inner-city areas. It is argued that this particular situation is an example of conflict that exists between private capital investment and the conditions under which it will take place and the housing needs which certainly exist in these areas.2 Owner occupation has expanded considerably since the early 1950s. In 1953, 28 per cent of dwellings were owner occupied, in 1976, approximately 54 per cent. The rapid expansion of owner occupation reflects factors related to demand, the tenure's favoured financial position3 and the difficulties of renting housing from either local authorities or private landlords. As Boddy notes,4 both Labour and Conservative governments have given it substantial backing as this statement by the current government reveals: The Government welcome this trend towards home ownership. . . . The Government will therefore promote measures to widen still further the opportunities for home ownership.5 It is within the context of attempts to expand home ownership amongst all sections of the population and the position of the building societies in relation to the growth of owner occupation and their dominance over the home loans market7 (in 1975 ?i8 882 million out of the ?24 431 million outstanding on housing loans were from building societies, i.e. 77 per cent) that the issue of owner occupation and mortgage finance in inner-city areas is considered.

The Institutional Framework for Municipal Incorporation: An Economic Analysis of Local Agency Formation Commissions in California

Abstract: M UCH analytical effort has been devoted in recent years to the normative economic analysis of the optimal structure of government, especially with reference to urban areas. This literature has developed along several lines. The possible presence of economies of scale from larger units of government forms a prominent part of this literature.1 Another strand of this literature examines the welfare consequences of independent decision making by units of local government, when those decisions affect residents of other units of local government.2 A third approach deals with the ability of a system with many governments to accommodate variations in individual preferences more fully than is possible in a single unit of government.3 While this third ap-