Showing papers on "Government published in 1987"

Privatization: The Key to Better Government

Abstract: Part 1 The background for privatization: introduction - pressures for privatization, overview the growth of government - the size of government why government grows. Part 2 The theory of privatization: basic characteristics of goods and services - exclusion, consumption, classifying goods and services, private goods, common-pool goods, toll goods, collective goods, the growth of collective and common-pool goods alternative arrangements for providing goods and services - providing, arranging and producing services, service arrangements, multiple, hybrid, and partial arrangements, privatization an analysis and comparison of alternative arrangements - the nature of goods and the choice of arrangements, factors in evaluating arrangements, comparison of arrangements, characteristics of the privatization alternatives. Part 3 Privatization in practice: applications in practice: applications in physical and commercial services - solid-waste management, street services, transportation, water supply and treatment, electric power, communications, commercial and administrative activities, state-owned property, state-owned enterprises, miscellaneous and prospective applications applications in protective and human services - public safety, national defense, health care, housing and urban development, social services, education, recreation and leisure. Part 4 Toward successful privatization: how to privatize - load shedding, load shedding by denationalization, limited-government arrangements, user charges, competition, contracting for services problems with privatization - problems that arise from the concept, necessary conditions for successful privatization, implementation obstacles.

Of Market Failure, Voluntary Failure, and Third-Party Government: Toward a Theory of Government-Nonprofit Relations in the Modern Welfare State

Abstract: Despite the fact that gouernment in the United States relies more heavily on nonprofit organizations than on its own instrumentalities to deliver government- funded human services, and that nonprof...

Policy and Politics in West Germany: The Growth of a Semisovereign State

Abstract: How can we account for the lack of large-scale policy change in West Germany despite changes in the partisan make-up of the federal government? This formulation of "the German Question" differs from the one commonly posed by students of German politics, a version usually focused on Germany's tragic confrontation with modernity and a possible revival of militarism and authoritarianism. Katzenstein here uncovers the political structures that make incremental policy change such a plausible political check against the growing force of government. This book examines in detail how West German policy and politics interrelate in six problem areas: economic management, industrial relations, social welfare, migrant workers, administrative reform, and university reform. Throughout these six case studies, Katzenstein suggests that West Germany's semi-sovereign state provides the answer to the German Question as it precludes the possibility of central authority. Coalition governments, federalism, para-public institutions, and the state bureaucracy are the domestic forces that have tamed power in the Federal Republic. Author note: Peter J. Katzenstein is Professor of Government at Cornell University, as well as a former editor of International Organization.

Decentralisation as an incentive scheme

Abstract: Recent changes have introduced more decentralization in a number of traditionally centralized countries.1 In the case of France, it is sometimes claimed that the 1982-1983 reform of subcentral government is of historical importance. Although the principles of that reform are not contested any more by the new majority elected in 1986, opinions still differ on a number of policy issues. Some of the issues are presented in this introductory section. But the main purpose of this paper is not to expose or discuss in detail the problems of decentralization in France. As argued in the second part of the introductory section, the theoretical framework in which the policy issues of decentralization are usually discussed by economists is somewhat unsatisfactory, in particular when applied to unitary states such as Britain or France. The bulk of the paper is devoted to the exploration of a different approach to decentralization. It is not purported however that this approach could completely replace the more traditional one. Consequently, when, in the concluding section, we return briefly to the policy issues identified here, this is to be read as a preliminary attempt to evaluate the relevance of the reasoning developed in the paper.

Crisis and Leviathan: Critical Episodes in the Growth of American Government

Abstract: Few topics are as timely as the growth of government. To understand why government has grown, Robert Higgs asserts, one must understand how it has grown. This book offers a coherent, multi-causal explanation, guided by a novel analytical framework firmly grounded in historical evidence. More than a study of trends in governmental spending, taxation, and employment, Crisis and Leviathan is a thorough analysis of the actual occasions when and the specific means by which Big Government developed in the United States. Naming names and highlighting the actions of significant individuals, Higgs examines how twentieth-century national emergencies--mainly wars, depressions, and labor disturbances--have prompted federal officials to take over previously private rights and activities. When the crises passed, a residue of new governmental powers remained. Even more significantly, each great crisis and the subsequent governmental measures have gone hand in hand with reinforcing shifts in public beliefs and attitudes toward the government's proper role in American life. Integrating the contributions of scholars in diverse disciplines, including history, law, political philosophy, and the social sciences, Crisis and Leviathan makes compelling reading for all those who seek to understand the transformation of America's political economy over the past century.

Chapter 14 The theory of cost-benefit analysis

Abstract: Publisher Summary The theory of cost-benefit analysis is widely used. It contributes to the understanding by giving a formal description of the subject and examining the theoretical basis for some of the techniques that have become the accepted tools of decision-making around the world. The aim of cost-benefit analysis is to provide a consistent procedure for evaluating decisions in terms of their consequences. This might appear as an obvious and sensible way to proceed, but it is by no means the only one. Cost-benefit analysis clearly embraces an enormous field. It offers clear guidelines for the evaluation of government decisions in such varied fields as tax, trade, or incomes policies; the provision of public goods; the distribution of rationed commodities; or the licensing of private investment. The chapter discusses the way cost-benefit analysis should proceed, a fairly unified account of the most salient results of the theoretical literature, and the way the framework encompasses a number of approaches to the definition and formulation of cost-benefit problems and describes the implications for a number of practical issues.

Rent Extraction and Rent Creation in the Economic Theory of Regulation

Abstract: The economic theory of regulation has advanced considerably since Stigler’s seminal piece explained government’s ability to create rents by cartelizing private producers.1 Because political action can redistribute wealth generally, it is now seen that private interest groups other than producers also have an incentive to organize, both to obtain the gains and to avoid the losses from a whole menu of government enactments.2 The configuration of winners and losers depends on many factors, and it changes as the underlying demands for and costs of regulation shift. New technology, for example, may render existing government regulations undesirable to their prior beneficiaries or make current regulations useful to groups previously not benefited. Finally, “government” itself has come to be treated, not as a unit, but as a complicated network of individuals, each with an incentive to maximize his own interest.

Modes of regulation in advanced capitalism: Locating accountancy in four countries

Abstract: The paper presents a framework for examining how accounting practices are regulated within advanced capitalist societies. Through the critical use of Streeck & Schmitter's (Private Interest Government and Public Policy, Sage, London, 1985) exploration of models of social order, regulation is theorised as an expression of the combination of the organising principles of Market, State and Community. The analytical framework is then applied to compare modes of accounting regulation in the Federal Republic of Germany, the United Kingdom, Sweden and the United States of America. The paper highlights the significance of contradictions within and between the organizing principles of advanced capitalism and seeks to display the regulation of accounting as a medium and outcome of the articulation of these contradictions.

The State and Poverty in India

Abstract: This analysis of the role of government in eradicating India's rural poverty raises a whole series of crucial contemporary issues relating to the state, its degree of autonomy in the developing world and the problems of effecting genuine redistributive reform. The particular importance of the book is that it focuses attention on the nature of ruling political parties as an important factor influencing the success or failure of redistributive and welfare politics in a democratic capitalist setting. Dr Kohli compares in detail three state-level Indian governments of the late seventies: Communist-ruled West Bengal, Karnataka under the Congress Party, and Uttar Pradesh under the Janata Party. Comparing these in terms of their success in redistributing agricultural land and creating employment for the rural poor, the author argues cogently that well-organised, left-of-centre parties in government - like that in West Bengal - are the most effective in implementing reform.

Improving Public Management

Abstract: Preface Thatcherism and Raynerism Management and Efficiency in Government Management Information and the Minister as Manager Centralize In Order To Decentralize Spend to Save Statisticians as Professionals in Government The Efficiency of the Efficiency Strategy Market Approaches to Public Management The Financial Management Initiative The Politics of Efficiency and Management of Change

Understanding Technical Change As an Evolutionary Process

Abstract: 1. Technical Change and Economic Analysis 2. Evolutionary Modelling 3. Inter-Industry Differences 4. The Public and Private Faces of Technology 5. Government Support of Technical Advance in Industry 6. Reprise

Top decisions : strategic decision-making in organizations

Abstract: How are important decisions made? What influences such decisions - their complexity, the ease with which they can be made, or the political dimension? The more strategic the decision, the more complex the decision making "game" becomes. This book analyzes how that game is played at the top of big organizations - in the private and public sectors. Based on ten years of research at Bradford Management Centre, this book features the results and experience of 150 case studies. Its wide coverage takes in subjects as diverse as the differences between decisions about new products and new technology, personnel and reorganization, and which kinds of outside interest, for example, government, trade unions, exert influence.

Public Opinion and Policy Liberalism in the American States

Abstract: This paper examines the effect of public opinion on public policy in the American states. We use a new measure of state public opinion, liberal-conservative ideological identification of state electorates, derived from aggregating CBS News/New York Times national opinion surveys. Regression and LISREL are used in the analysis to demonstrate that state opinion is a major determinant of state policy. Citizen preferences are markedly more important than state social and economic characteristics in accounting for patterns of policy liberalism in the states. These results constitute a major challenge to economic development as an explanation of state policy. Unless mass views have some place in the shaping of policy, all the talk about democracy is nonsense. -V. 0. Key (1961, p. 7) Popular control of public policy is a central tenet of democratic theory. Indeed, we often gauge the quality of democratic government by the responsiveness of public policymakers to the preferences of the mass public as well as by formal opportunities for, and the practice of, mass participation in political life. The potential mechanisms of democratic popular control can be stated briefly. In elections, citizens have the opportunity to choose from leaders who offer differing futures for government action. Once elected, political leaders have incentives to be responsive to public preferences. Elected politicians who offer policies that prove unpopular or unpleasant in their consequences can be replaced at the next election by other politicians who offer something different. Of course, this picture describes only the democratic ideal. A cynic would describe the electoral process quite differently: Election campaigns

Teachers’ Attitudes Towards the Integration of Disabled Children into Regular Schools

Abstract: Regular and resource teachers from New South Wales government and nongovernment schools were surveyed to elicit their attitudes towards the integration of individual disabled chldren, the support services currently provided and the skills considered essential for teachers of mainstreamed atypical students. Differences among sub‐groups of teachers and between teachers and principals who had completed the same questionnaire in a previous study were also examined. Results indicate that teachers’ attitudes to the integration of individual disabled children reflect lack of confidence both in their own instructional skills and in the quality of support personnel currently provided to them. They are positive about integrating only those children whose disabling characteristics are not likely to require extra instructional or management skills on the part of the teacher. However, teachers’ attitudes may be significantly modified by their pre‐service training and the nature of their subsequent professiona...

Traditional versus open offices: A comparison of sociotechnical, social relations, and symbolic meaning perspectives.

Abstract: The effects of a change in an office environment from a traditional to an open-plan design were examined for government employees occupying three types of organizational positions. Differential eff...

The economic analysis of technology policy

Abstract: Governments are becoming more aware of the importance of technology in generating economic performance, and the extent of public intervention in the technological process has increased considerably since the war. This book looks at why and how this intervention should take place from the standpoint of economic theory. Stoneman begins by discussing the welfare framework and the relationship between technological change and economic performance. He then investigates the effects of technology policies in a theoretical framework that unifies invention, innovation, and diffusion. The emphasis on diffusion policies breaks relatively unexplored ground. Particular topics in technology policy are analysed, with chapters on patents, standards, risk uncertainty and finance, the international dimension, the defence sector, and employment. Finally, the past experiences of government interventions are reviewed and conclusions drawn. This is a book for students taking courses in industrial economics, economic policy, or the economics of technological change, researchers and policy advisers in the field.

The Effect of Government Funding on Private Industrial Research and Development: A Re-Assessment

Abstract: A number of previous studies have attempted to determine the effect of federal support of research and development (R& D) performed in industry on the rate of private investment in R&D, by estimating regressions of private R & D expenditure on federal industrial R & D expenditure, controlling for total demand (sales) and in some cases other variables. This paper presents arguments and econometric evidence in support of the hypothesis that, due to misspecification of the private R&D equation (i.e., failure to distinguish government sales from other sales), previous estimates of the effect of federal industrial R & D on private R & D funding are seriously upwardly biased.

Teledemocracy : can technology protect democracy?

Abstract: The Debate Over Technology and Democracy The Promise of Technology The Institutional Context of Political Participation Bringing 'The People' Into Politics Bringing Government to Citizens Experimenting with Referenda Teaching Citizenship Through Technology Lessons from the Participation Projects Democracy and Technology

The Adoption and Diffusion of Imported Technology: The Case of Korea

Abstract: This book considers the problems that developing countries face when importing technology from abroad. The major issues - technical, economic, political - are analysed in the case of one particular country: Korea. The book describes the negotiations with the foreign companies that controlled the desired technology, the building of the plants, the training of engineers and managers to replace expatriots, the improvements of processes and products and the maintenance of efficient and profitable production. In their research the authors were given access to information usually kept confidential - government memoranda and minutes, company contacts and records, costs and prices. The book also considers how typical of the developing countries Korea is, and the authors make certain policy recommendations for the future.

Closed Borders: The Contemporary Assault on Freedom of Movement

Abstract: Looks at how governments have dealt with emigration and immigration in the past, assesses the impact of such government control, and recommends a policy of free movement around the world.

Some theoretical aspects of agricultural policies

Abstract: In virtually every country, governments intervene in agricultural markets in a variety of ways : with subsidies and taxes, with creidt, with price stabilization programs, and with expenditure programs. This article provides a systematic framework within which these various programs can be assessed. The analysis of any policy must begin with a description of its effects. An evaluation of the appropriateness of any policy must begin by specifying the reasons for market failure and the instruments at the disposal of the government. The article focuses on the consequences of imperfect risk and credit markets and considers the incentive and distributive effects of alternative government programs.

Deficit Announcements and Interest Rates

Abstract: Despite the fact that the most theoretical analyses (with the notable exception of the Ricardian equivalence approach) indicate that increased deficits cause interest rates to rise, the empirical evidence is at best inconclusive.1 In this note the relationship between interest rates and deficits is examined with the announcement effect methodology which has not previously been used in this context. We find evidence of a positive relationship between unanticipated announcements of the projected Federal government deficit and interest rates. In an efficient market, information about any determinant of interest rates should be quickly incorporated into observed rates. Thus, when information about the size of the deficits is released, a relatively quick impact on interest rates can be anticipated. More specifically, if an increase in the deficit is, in fact, associated with higher interest rates, then an unanticipated announcement of a larger deficit should lead to a response in financial markets, which increases interest rates. This paper provides evidence on the announcement effects of information on the deficit. The advantage of the announcement effect approach is that it precludes the necessity of specifying a structural model for interest rates.2 Projections of current and future Federal government deficits are made on a regular basis by both the Office of Managementand Budget (OMB) and the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), and receive wide attention in the financial press. These projections provide data that are related to the change in interest rate on government securities from the day before the announcement to the end of the announcement day. The macroeconomic hypothesis underlying this investigation is simply that an increase in the current or future deficit leads to an increase in yields on government securities in anticipation of higher levels of debt financing. In a rational expectations framework, an announcement of higher future deficits will lead to a current increase in interest rates in anticipation of future financing. Thus, the examination of announcement effects enables us to substantiate a relationship between interest rates and deficits without encountering the econometric problems of reduced form modeling. Section I begins with a description of the data. This is followed by a discussion of the methodology in Section II. Section III presents the empirical results. This is followed by our conclusions in Section IV.

Targeting the Computer: Government Support and International Competition

Abstract: Most industrial nations actively support research and development of advanced computer technology. They usually justify public expenditures on the basis of both economic and national security benefits. This heavy government involvement and the international nature of the computer industry have created increasing challenges to accepted principles of international trade and investment.In this detailed analysis of the origins and evolution of government support for computer technology in the United States, Western Europe, and Japan, Kenneth Flamm compares the amounts these countries have invested and how they have organized public and private funding over the past thirty-five years. He challenges popular myths about the size and effectiveness of government programs to support computer technology, and argues that the data suggest a high social rate of return on those investments. Flamm concludes that the United States must reevaluate its policies on research and development. The role of military programs as the primary vehicle for computer technology development should be de-emphasized in favor of support for joint, pre-competitive industrial research. Cooperative research ventures linking universities and industry also ought to be encouraged. Since global markets are vital to American computer firms, Flamm argues that policies to promote orderly international trade and investment in high-technology products are needed to avoid an expanding spiral of protectionism.

Public Choice: An Introduction

Abstract: The 1968 Nobel Prize for Economics was awarded to one of the founders of public choice theory, James Buchanan, yet many people have only the vaguest idea what public choice is. The book offers and unusually clear and accessible introduction to an important subject. McLean examines the workings of public choice from two related perspectives - collective action and the aggregation of individual preferences into social consensus. The book highlights the paradox at the heart of collective action- that self-interest in the public domain is frequently counterproductive. National defense and clean air are things we all benefit from - they are public goods - but we tend to resist contributing to them. The first part of this book examines how government choice in such areas is shaped, and by whom- political entrepreneurs, bureaucrats, interest groups and ordinary citizens. McLean uses the idea of a public market in which politicians sell what they hope voters will buy, and further considers how and when people (and animals) co-operate to produce public goods even without government coercion. In the second part of the book the author examines the consequences of combining individual preferences, arguing that there is no straightforward way of adding them up to form a 'social ordering' and assesing the implications of this both for electoral reform and for the status of 'the will of the people'.

The Impact of Investigative Reporting on Public Opinion and Policymaking: Targeting Toxic Waste

Abstract: This article reports the fourth in a continuing series of case studies that explore the impact of news media investigative journalism on the general public, policymakers, and public pol- icy. The media disclosures in this field experiment had limited effects on the general public but were influential in changing the attitudes of policymakers. The study describes how changes in public policymaking resulted from collaboration between journal- ists and government officials. The authors develop a model that is a beginning step toward specifying the conditions under which media investigations influence public attitudes and agendas. This article reports the fourth in a series of field experiments that test the agenda-setting hypothesis (McCombs and Shaw, 1972) for news

Contracting for Social Services: Process Management and Resource Dependencies

Abstract: A new interorganizational environment has emerged as nongovernmental organizations have increasingly been used to implement public policy in the social services. As yet, there is a paucity of appropriate concepts, models, and data to describe the organizational consequences of separating governmental funding from service delivery as found in purchase of service contracting. Drawing mainly on three recent studies of contracting in the San Francisco Bay Area, this paper employs a political economy model to analyze the choices and constraints faced by local governmental agencies and nonprofit service providers as they move through the five stages of the contract management process. The strategies used by provider agencies to cope with their dependencies on government for funds and clients are then described. A series of questions is identified for policymakers interested in improving the contracting process.