Showing papers on "Government published in 1989"

Innovation and Learning: The Two Faces of R & D

Abstract: The authors assume that firms invest in R&D not only to generate innovations, but also to learn from competitors and extraindustry knowledge sources (e.g., university and government labs). This argument suggests that the ease of learning within an industry will both affect R&D spending, and condition the influence of appropriability and technological opportunity conditions on R&D. For example, they show that, contrary to the traditional result, intraindustry spillovers may encourage equilibrium industry R&D investment. Regression results confirm that the impact of appropriability and technological opportunity conditions on R&D is influenced by the ease and character of learning. Copyright 1989 by Royal Economic Society.

Constitutions and Commitment: The Evolution of Institutions Governing Public Choice in Seventeenth-Century England

Abstract: The article studies the evolution of the constitutional arrangements in seventeenth-century England following the Glorious Revolution of 1688. It focuses on the relationship between institutions and the behavior of the government and interprets the institutional changes on the basis of the goals of the winners—secure property rights, protection of their wealth, and the elimination of confiscatory government. We argue that the new institutions allowed the government to commit credibly to upholding property rights. Their success was remarkable, as the evidence from capital markets shows.

Bureaucracy : What Government Agencies Do and Why They Do It

Abstract: Organizations * Armies, Prisons, Schools * Organization Matters Operators * Circumstances * Beliefs * Interests * Culture Managers * Constraints * People * Compliance Executives * Turf * Strategies * Innovation Context * Congress * Presidents * Courts * National Differences Change * Problems * Rules * Markets * Bureaucracy and the Public Interest

Benchmarking: The Search for Industry Best Practices That Lead to Superior Performance

Abstract: This groundbreaking reference is for middle managers in industry, not-for-profit organization and government agencies, as well as quality improvement projects. Detailed examples show you how to relate benchmarking investigations from beginning to end. The author's personal tips will allow you, with minimum effort, to effectively launch your quest for the best.

Why a Stubborn Conservative would Run a Deficit: Policy with Time-Inconsistent Preferences

Abstract: A conservative government, in favor of a low level of public consumption, knows that it will be replaced by a government in favor of a larger level of public consumption. We show that the resulting level of public consumption is in between the levels the two governments would choose if each were in power both in the present and in the future. In particular, we show that if the conservative government is more stubborn (in a particular sense) than the succeeding government, the conservative government will borrow more than it would had it remained in power in the future.

Policy analysis : concepts and practice

Abstract: Part 1: Introduction to Public Policy Analysis Chapter 1: Preview Chapter 2: What is Policy Analysis? Chapter 3: Toward Professional Ethics Part 2: Conceptual Foundations for Problem Analysis Chapter 4: Efficiency and the Idealized Competitive Model Chapter 5: Rationales for Public Policy: Market Failures Chapter 6: Rationales for Public Policy: Other Limitations of the Competitive Framework Chapter 7: Rationales for Public Policy: Distributional and Other Goals Chapter 8: Limits to Public Intervention: Government Failures Chapter 9: Policy Problems as Market and Government Failure: The Madison Taxicab Policy Analysis Example Part 3: Conceptual Foundations for Solution Analysis Chapter 10: Correcting Market and Government Failures: Generic Policies Chapter 11: Adoption Chapter 12: Implementation Chapter 13: Government Supply: Drawing Organizational Boundaries Part 4: Doing Policy Analysis Chapter 14: Gathering Information for Policy Analysis Chapter 15: Landing on Your Feet: Organizing Your Policy Analysis Chapter 16: Case Study: The Canadian Pacific Salmon Fisher Chapter 17: Cost-Benefit Analysis: Assessing Efficiency Chapter 18: Public Agency Strategic Analysis: Identifying Opportunities for Increasing Social Value Part 5: Conclusion Chapter 19: Doing Well and Doing Good

Clinical Economics: A Guide to the Economic Analysis of Clinical Practices

Abstract: PUBLIC and professional concern about the cost of medical care has evoked a variety of proposed remedies. Professional societies have promulgated guidelines to help physicians provide the most appropriate services. 1,2 Government has begun to recognize the need for more research into clinical strategies in hopes of exploring the variations in medical practice and reducing federal health care outlays. 3 Insurance companies and businesses have desperately sought (and bought) consultants who promise to control beneficiaries' and employees' utilization of medical services. Underlying these cost-cutting solutions is a faith that medical care can be made cost-effective, that more value can be obtained for the money spent. The application of economics to medical practice does not necessarily mean that less should or can be spent, but rather that the use of resources might be more efficient. 4-21 To achieve more cost-effective medical practice, the attention of experts in health policy ultimately must

Unifying Political Methodology: The Likelihood Theory of Statistical Inference

Abstract: One of the hallmarks of the development of political science as a discipline has been the creation of new methodologies by scholars within the discipline--methodologies that are well-suited to the analysis of political data. Gary King has been a leader in the development of these new approaches to the analysis of political data. In his book, "Unifying Political Methodology," King shows how the likelihood theory of inference offers a unified approach to statistical modeling for political research and thus enables us to better analyze the enormous amount of data political scientists have collected over the years. Newly reissued, this book is a landmark in the development of political methodology and continues to challenge scholars and spark controversy."Gary King's "Unifying Political Methodology" is at once an introduction to the likelihood theory of statistical inference and an evangelist's call for us to change our ways of doing political methodology. One need not accept the altar call to benefit enormously from the book, but the intellectual debate over the call for reformation is likely to be the enduring contribution of the work."--Charles Franklin, "American Political Science Review""King's book is one of the only existing books which deal with political methodology in a clear and consistent framework. The material in it is now and will continue to be essential reading for all serious students and researchers in political methodology." --R. Michael Alvarez, California Institute of Tech-nologyGary King is Professor of Government, Harvard University. One of the leading thinkers in political methodology, he is the author of "A Solution to the Ecological Inference Problem: Reconstructing Individual Behavior from Aggregate Data" and other books and articles.

Government Size and Economic Growth: A New Framework and Some Evidence from Cross-Section and Time-Series Data: Comment

Abstract: In a recent paper, Rati Ram (1986a) derived an equation for economic growth from two separate production functions, one for the government sector and the other for the nongovernment sector' Three different specifications of the growth equation were estimated using data for 115 countries covering the period 1960-80 International cross-section regressions for 1960-70 and 1970-80 as well as time-series regressions for individual countries were considered The following were the main results (Ram, 1986a, pp 191-92): (1) the overall impact of government size on growth is positive in almost all cases; (2) the (marginal) externality effect of government size is generally positive; (3) compared with the rest of the economy, factor productivity in the government sector appears to be higher, at least during the 1960s; and (4) there is a broad harmony between the estimates obtained from crosssection and time-series data From a policy standpoint, Ram's results, if widely accepted, have important implications, especially in regard to the economic development of the lowand middle-income developing countries For instance, the results can be interpreted to favor a relatively large role for governments in the economies of developing countries, especially if the factor productivity in the government sector is higher than in the nongovernntent sector The results of Ram, however, are in contrast to the findings of Daniel Landau (1986) Landau used a regression model within the framework of a pooled cross-section (65 LDCs) and time-series (1960-80) to assess the impact of a wide variety of government expenditure variables on the rate of economic growth The regressors included not only measures of government expenditure but also the level of per capita product, indicators of international economic conditions, human and physical capital variables, the structure of production, historical-political factors, geo-climatic factors, and others On the impact of government on economic growth, Landau's (1986, p 68) conclusions are: "Government consumption expenditure' excluding military and educational expenditure appears to have noticeably reduced economic growth Military and transfer expenditures do not appear to have had much impact on economic growth Governmental educational expenditures seem to be inefficient at generating actual education Government capital development expenditure appears to do nothing to accelerate economic growth" The conclusions of Ram and Landau are in sharp contrast to each other largely due to significant differences in their models and in the specification of government-size variables Ram's model has a better theoretical foundation compared to the multiple-regression approach of Landau On the other hand, Landau used a variety of government expenditure components as against aggregate government consumption which Ram used Their models and results, therefore, need to be carefully evaluated in further research on the subject This paper is an attempt in that direction and is aimed at a critical review of Ram's model and reexamination of his results *Department of Economics and Statistics, National University of Singapore, Kent Ridge, Singapore 0511 The author is grateful to Ganesha and Sai Gayathri for inspiration, to Koh Lin Ji for computing assistance, and to Basant Kapur, Tse Yiu Kuen, Dudley Luckett, and Mukul Asher for comments and advice Special thanks are due to the four referees of the Review for substantial comments on the earlier versions of this paper IRam adapted the two-sector growth model of Gershon Feder (1983) Feder examined the relationship between exports and economic growth

The Sustainability of Government Deficits: Implications of the Present-Value Borrowing Constraint

Abstract: This paper introduces a new methodology for evaluating the sustainability of fiscal policy. The new methodology is distinguished from most existing tests in two important respects: first, it allows for stochastic real interest rates; and second, it is both necessary and sufficient. Results from the application of the new test suggest that recent fiscal policy in the United States has not been sustainable. The paper contrasts its findings with those of James D. Hamilton and Marjorie A. Flavin (1986). Copyright 1989 by Ohio State University Press.

The normative economics of health care finance and provision

Abstract: Whereas in many countries the 'crisis' in medical care has been seen in terms of 'excess' spending on health services, in the UK it has been seen (at least by most of those who manage and work in the NHS) as a crisis of 'underfunding' This has come about as the result of the government's successful attempts to restrain the rate of growth of real spending on the NHS, which in turn reflects the government's belief that its principal effective weapon against what it perceives to be inefficiency in the NHS is to challenge management (itself reformed and to some extent liberated) by systematic financial squeezes The same concern has given rise to a host of proposals for reform of the NHS most of which involve a much greater role for private insurance, private finance of other kinds (such as out-of-pocket payments), and private provision of health care itself

Instruments of Government: Perceptions and Contexts

Abstract: Government uses a wide variety of instruments to reach its policy goals, ranging from indirect methods, such as moral suasion and cash inducements, to more direct ones involving government provision of services. Although there has been a fair amount of writing on the nature and use of various policy instruments, there is very little work on either the meaning ascribed to these instruments by the decisionmakers who use them (or the experts who design them) or the processes by which some come to be favored over others. Characteristics of the political system, such as national policy style, the organizational setting of the decisionmaker, and the problem situation are all likely to have some influence over the choice of instruments. The relative impact of these variables, however, is likely to be mediated by subjective factors linked to cognition. Perceptions of the proper ‘tool to do the job’ intervenes between context and choice in a complex way. Efforts to account for variation in instrument choice, then, must focus not only on macro level variables but on micro ones as well.

An Accurate Measurement of the Crowd Out Effect, Income Effect and Price Effect for Charitable Contributions

Abstract: In the past, empirical research on charitable contributions has focused on two issues: estimating the income and price elasticities of contributions and estimating the extent to which government funding crowded out private contributions. The two fundamental problems in all these studies are the differences in the underlying conceptual models and the use of imperfect data for empirical analysis. This paper addresses both of these problems.

Crucial Decisions: Leadership in Policymaking and Crisis Management

Abstract: The article presents a review of the book “Crucial Decisions: Leadership in Policymaking and Crisis Management,” by Irving L. Janis.

Government Spending and Budget Deficits in the Industrial Economies

Abstract: Fiscal policy Nouriel Roubini and Jeffrey Sachs This paper examines the evolution of the size of government and of budget deficits in OECD economies. We highlight the rapid increase in government spending in the 1970s, the sharp rise in budget deficits and public debt after 1973, and the reversal in these trends in the 1980s. The increase in the size of government was associated in part with the slowdown in growth after 1973, but also reflected gradual adjustment of the ratio of spending to output towards a long-run target which depends on political and institutional characteristics of the economy – the political orientation of the government, the degree of wage indexation, and the degree of stability of the political system. Such factors also explain the size of budget deficits. When faced with an adverse shock, subsequent deficit reduction requires a measure of political consensus. We note that such consensus is hard to achieve in multi-party coalitions. In consequence, countries with such a political structure tended In consequence, countries with such a political structure tended toIn consequence, countries with such a political structure tended to experience much more rapid increases in their debt-GNP ratios.

Nonprofit Organizations, Government, and the Welfare State

Abstract: Since the early decades of the American republic, nonprofit organizations have played a critical role in helping people in need by providing education, training, residences, counseling, and in-kind and cash support. Moreover, President George Bush has followed Ronald Reagan in calling upon nonprofit agencies to take the leading role in American society in addressing social problems. Their belief in the efficacy of nonprofits (President Bush's "thousand points of light") combined with the current political and financial constraints on government spending, suggests an even larger service role for nonprofit organizations in the future. Nonprofit organizations invoke the images of community, voluntarism, civic dependability, and neighbor-helping-neighbor that have always exerted a powerful impression on American public consciousness.1 However, largely as a result of this expanded role in providing services for government, these images are at variance with the contemporary reality of nonprofit service organizations. Rather than depending mostly on private charity and volunteers, most nonprofit service organizations depend on government for over half of their revenues; for many small agencies, government support comprises their entire budget. In contrast to the

Codes of ethics

Abstract: Partly as a result of much recent evidence of business and government crime, a large proportion of major corporations have adopted codes of ethics; government service is also making more use of them. The electrical manufacturing anti-trust conspiracy and 1973–1976 investigation of foreign and domestic bribery were immediate prods. There are also government codes of which the ASPA code is most widely distributed. Corporate codes discuss relations to employees, interemployee relationships, whistle blowing, effect on environment, commercial bribery, insider information, other conflicts of interest, anti-trust, accounting, consumer relations, and political activities. A discussion of use of codes shows partly favorable results. A number of corporation decisions have not yet become a subject of code provisions. Codes will be more useful if the reasons behind each order are stated and team work is encouraged.

Chapter 22 Economic perspectives on the politics of regulation

Abstract: Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the three themes of economics research on regulation. The first and oldest deals with market failures and the corrective actions that government can undertake to ameliorate them. The second examines the effects of regulatory policies and asks whether government intervention is efficient or more efficient than doing nothing. The third investigates the political causes of regulatory policy. The motivation arises from the disjointness in the first two areas of research: regulation as practiced commonly has been found to be inefficient and to adopt methods that do not appear to be the best choices for tackling their associated market failures. The chapter presents an interpretative survey of the third category of research. It focuses on research that employs the conceptual model and methods of economics—that is, it assumes rational, goal-directed behavior by all relevant agents—that uses economic theoretic discussions to make predictions about political behavior and, where relevant, that employs the methods of testing theoretical hypotheses that economists commonly employ. Regardless of the motives of political actors, an essential ingredient to a theory of regulatory policy when the Coase Theorem fails is the way political officials control agencies. Whether the aim of regulation is to maximize efficiency or to transfer wealth to a special interest, politicians face a principal agent problem in trying to assure reasonable bureaucratic compliance with the objectives behind a legislative mandate.

A price to pay: The impact of user charges in ashanti-akim district, Ghana

Abstract: The authors investigated the impact of user charges upon health service utilization in the Ashanti-Akim district of Ghana since the introduction of fees for service in 1985. The district has a population of 183100 of whom approximately 70% live in rural areas. The data analyzed in the study are from government institution monthly outpatient returns and registration books. The user charges have successfully recovered 15% of Ministry of Health expenditure and urban use has regained its pre-fees level. Some of the potential advantages of user charges however have not been realized because the health infrastructure as a whole has not changed enough. Moreover problems of equity and affordability should not be ignored. The rural population in the district seems to have suffered a disproportionate drop in utilization since the introduction of user charges and some people simply cannot afford services.

Sources of Popular Support for Authoritarian Regimes

Abstract: All authoritarian governments attempt to control the flow of news and information to the public-but with what effect? To answer this question, we adapt an existing model of opinion formation to conditions in authoritarian countries, validate that model on opinion data collected in Brazil during its authoritarian period, and, finally, use the model to derive expectatipns about patterns of regime support that exist in different kinds of authoritarian systems. The paper shows that support for regime policies depends heavily on citizens' level of political awareness. In general, highly aware persons are more heavily exposed to governmentdominated communications media, but are also better able to resist the propaganda they encounter. As a result, people in the broad middle ranges of awareness-who pay enough attention to be exposed but are not sophisticated enough to resist-typically are most susceptible to government influence. All authoritarian governments attempt to manage the flow of news and political information to the public. They seek, on one side, to fill the mass media with a steady stream of progovernment messages and, on the other, to stifle independent criticism and analysis. By these means authoritarian governments attempt to shape the political attitudes of their citizens. Since these governments rarely permit the conduct of independent survey research, no one really knows how successfully they indoctrinate their citizens. Can people who have been fed a steady diet of governmentcontrolled information maintain critical attitudes toward their government? What kinds of citizens are most susceptible to government influence, and what kinds are least sus_eptible? What theories can account for the observed patterns of susceptibility? Using opinion data collected in Brazil at the height of its authoritarian period, we develop answers to these questions. We find that support for the government's authoritarian policies tends to be greatest among citizens who *We gratefully acknowledge many helpful comments on the paper by Chris Achen, Larry Bartels, Henry Brady, David Collier, Amaury de Souza, and several anonymous reviewers. We especially thank Herbert McClosky, whose insights on the learning of political attitudes this paper seeks to extend. The research was supported in part by an Academic Senate grant at UCLA. The data reported in this paper were originally collected under a grant from the Ford Foundation and were made available through the Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research at the University of Michigan. We alone bear responsibility for any errors of fact or interpretation the paper may contain.

The powers of problem definition: The case of government paperwork

Abstract: Problem definition is a package of ideas that includes, at least implicitly, an account of the causes and consequences of undesirable circumstances and a theory about how to improve them. As such, it serves as the overture to policymaking, as an integral part of the process of policymaking, and as a policy outcome. In each of these roles it seems to exert influence on government action. Distinguishing among the roles clarifies the nature of that influence. A case study examines the transition from one problem definition to another in the domain of information collection by the federal government. The rise of the Paperwork Reduc- tion definition illustrates the variety of ways in which problem definition has powerful con- sequences. Problem definition is widely regarded as the first stage of the policy cycle, a stage that lays fundamental groundwork for the ensuing struggle over the construction of useful policy alternatives, authoritative adoption of a policy choice, implementation, and assessment (Brewer and deLeon 1983). Defini- tion in this sense is not merely a label for a set of facts and perceptions. It is a package of ideas that includes at least implicitly an account of the causes and consequences of some circumstances that are deemed undesirable, and a theory about how a problem may be alleviated (Defy 1984, Gusfield 1981). By the frame imposed on circumstances, a problem definition highlights some aspects of the situation, throwing other aspects into shadow. It pushes forward some potential solutions, neglecting others (Gamson and Modigliani 1987). The definition of problems at the outset of the policy process may have various sources: the lonely analyst wrestling to impose intellectual structure on a messy array of facts and dilemmas; savvy politicians crafting issues to appeal to the winning mix of voter demographics; a crisis event splashed across the front page to galvanize attention to previously neglected corners of social life; the insistence of disenfranchised groups that their concerns be taken seriously by those more comfortably circumstanced. Whatever the pre- cipitating factors, problem definition determines how people think about the problems that are (and are not) on the public agenda. 2 I endorse the importance of the initial definition of the problem, as it has been typically considered in the policy literature. A problem definition at the outset of the policy process has implications for later stages: which kinds of

Who Makes Foreign Policy Decisions and How: An Empirical Inquiry

Abstract: At the apex of foreign policy making in all governments or ruling parties are actors with the ability to commit the resources of the government and the power to prevent other entities within the government from reversing their position-the ultimate decision unit. Although this decision unit may change with the nature of the policy problem and with time, its structure will shape a government's foreign policy. In this paper we propose three types of decision units: predominant leaders, single groups, and multiple autonomous actors. Each of these exists in one of several conditions that help to determine whether the decision unit affects foreign policy largely through the pre-existing knowledge, beliefs, and style of those participating in the unit (a self-contained unit) or whether factors outside the decision unit must be taken into consideration in understanding the results of the decision-making process (an externally influenceable unit). The hypotheses that self-contained units will engage in more extreme foreign policy behavior than externally influenceable units and that single group decision units will show more extreme foreign policy behavior than those comprised of multiple autonomous actors are examined using data from twenty-five nations during the decade from 1959 to 1968. Who makes foreign policy decisions? What is the effect of the decision unit on foreign policy? An examination of how governments and ruling parties around the world make foreign policy decisions suggests that authority is exercised by an extensive array of different entities. Among the decision units are prime ministers, presidents, politburos, juntas, cabinets, inter-agency groups, coalitions, and parliaments. Moreover, within any one government the pertinent decision units often change with time and issue. When cross-national comparisons of governmental decision-making bodies are contemplated, as in the comparative study of foreign policy, the number of possible kinds of decision units becomes formidable. This essay examines one way of classifying decision units, showing how it enhances our ability to differentiate and account for governments' behavior in the foreign Author's Note: This research was funded by a National Science Foundation grant (SES-8618438), the Mershon Center, and the Ohio State University Instructional and Research Computing Center. We would like to thank Greg Peacock for his help with the data analysis as well as Bahgat Korany, Roy Licklider, Jerel Rosati, and Harvey Starr for their thoughtful comments on earlier drafts of the paper.

Promises, Promises: Credible Policy Reform via Signalling

Abstract: Empirical experience and theory both suggest that policy reforms can be aborted or reversed if they lack sufficient credibility. One reason for credibility problems is the doubt regarding how serious the government really is about the reform. This paper considers a framework in which the private sector is unable to distinguish between a genuinely reformist government and a government that simply feigns interest in reform because it is a precondition for foreign assistance. The general conclusion is that the magnitude of the reform may serve to convey the government's future intentions and, hence, act as a signal of its "type." Copyright 1989 by Royal Economic Society.

Maintaining Allegiance toward Political Authorities: The Role of Prior Attitudes and the Use of Fair Procedures

Abstract: This study examines the impact of experience with the criminal justice system on defendant attitudes toward legal authorities, law, and government. Our focus is on the extent to which particular experiences affect more general attitudes toward the political system in which courts are embedded. We are particularly concerned with assessing the relative impact of prior attitudes and particular features of current experience (e.g., outcome favorability, distributive justice, and procedural justice) on this generalization process. The data come from a panel study of felony defendants in three cities. Our results suggest two major conclusions. First, personal experiences with government agencies have an impact on broader attitudes toward government. Second, this generalization process is not dominated by the favorability of the outcome for the citizen, even in situations in which the stakes are especially high. The fairness of the experience has a substantial influence on the lessons about the nature of law and government that citizens learn from their encounters with government institutions.

Talking about Needs: Interpretive Contests as Political Conflicts in Welfare-State Societies

Abstract: In late-capitalist, welfare-state societies, talk about people's needs is an important species of political discourse. We argue, in the United States, for example, about whether the government ought to provide for health and day-care needs, and indeed, about whether such needs exist. And we dispute whether existing social-welfare programs really do meet the needs they purport to satisfy or whether, instead, they misconstrue those needs. We also argue about what exactly various groups of people really do need and about who should have the last word in such matters. In all these cases, needs-talk functions as a medium for the making and contesting of political claims. It is an idiom in which political conflict is played out and through which inequalities are symbolically elaborated and challenged. Talk about needs has not always been central to Western political culture; it has often been considered antithetical to politics and relegated to the margins of political life. However, in welfare-state societies, needstalk has been institutionalized as a major vocabulary of political discourse.2

A Fragile Power: Scientists and the State

Abstract: When the National Science Foundation funds research about the earth's crust and the Department of Energy supports studies on the disposal of nuclear wastes, what do they expect for their money? Most scientists believe that in such cases the government wants information for immediate use or directions for seeking future benefits from nature. Challenging this oversimplified view, Chandra Mukerji depicts a more complex interdependence between science and the state. She uses vivid examples from the heavily funded field of oceanography, particularly from recent work on seafloor hot springs and on ocean disposal of nuclear wastes, to raise questions about science as it is practiced and financed today. She finds that scientists act less as purveyors of knowledge to the government than as an elite and highly skilled talent pool retained to give legitimacy to U.S. policies and programs: scientists allow their authority to be projected onto government officials who use scientific ideas for political purposes. Writing in a crisp and jargon-free style, Mukerji reveals the peculiar mix of autonomy and dependency defined for researchers after World War II--a mix that has changed since then but that continues to shape the practical conduct of science. Scientists use their control over the scientific content of research to convince themselves of their autonomy and to achieve some power in their dealings with funding agencies, but they remain fundamentally dependent on the state. Mukerji argues that they constitute a kind of reserve force, like the Army or Navy reserves, paid by the government to do research only because science is politically essential to the workings of the modern state. This book isessential reading not only for sociologists and students of science and society, and for oceanographers, but also for every scientist whose work depends directly or indirectly on government support.