Suchergebnisse

This paper makes the case that nonrivalness and nonexcludability properties of public goods are still relevant and crucial considerations. Although these characteristics of publicness may be socially endogenous with institutional choice, these properties are not necessarily determined by this choice. For club goods, a wide range of institutional structures are consistent with the same properties of publicness. Even when these publicness properties are endogenous, the resulting characteristics of the public good are still important for comparing equilibrium outcomes with social optima. Although public good theory has been misused by some to support public provision of such goods, this misuse does not mean that the modern theory is devoid of interest.

This book brings a constructivist approach to analyzing public goods by recognizing that preferences are socially constructed from the actors' identities. This synthesis of constructivism and rational choice provides a deeper understanding of the decision to provide goods such as protecting human rights and collective security.

RECENT RESEARCH INTO BUREAUCRACY AND REPRESENTATIVE GOVERNMENT, PARTICULARLY THE RESEARCH OF WILLIAM NISKANEN, HAS RECEIVED CRITICAL ANALYSIS. NISKANEN FAILS TO DEVOTE SUFFICIENT ATTENTION TO THE SPONSOR'S MOTIVATION AND DECISION-MAKING. THE ANALYSIS ALSO IMPLIES THAT THE BUREAU'S POSITION DEPENDS ON POLITICAL MECHANISM THROUGH WHICH DEMAND IS EXPRESSED.

The paper examines the control of power, using an account of the public good developed from Aristotle. It identifies three different perspectives on the relationship between governance (the control of power) and the public good: a 'cybernetic' perspective, an 'axiological' perspective, and a perspective of 'critique'. This framework offers a way to scrutinize the exercise of power, and to evaluate the linkages between a political administration and its citizenry. To evaluate an administration's legacy, this framework suggests we should study: (1) how an administration controls power over time; (2) how an administration exhibits virtue; and (3) how an administration creates conditions which enable its citizens to live the good life. Narrative theory is one basis for empirical development of this framework. This contributes to some long‐standing debates in management, public administration, economics and political science. It also enables critical examination of a fashionable, though vague, term: 'public value'.

Higher education in the United States faces a loss of trust. Much of the response to the public's decreasing confidence has been through the accountability movement's focus on individual, private benefits. Public trust, however, will require proactive societal engagement that provides a compelling case for the contributions that higher education makes to the public good. While these challenges are discussed from a US perspective, there are global implications.

Public goods are collectively beneficial for citizens. Peace, a free press, or a financial market that serves its function of enabling smooth, sustainable capital flows to entrepreneurs without entailing costly bailouts by Main Street-these are all public goods. Public goods are for democracy what happiness is for the individual: the center of gravity that keeps its activities-the public policies and political debate among citizens-vital and in accord with basic values and the requirements of social cohesion. Angela Kallhoff, drawing on the philosophical work of Martha Nussbaum and Jürgen Habermas, gives a convincing answer for why democracy needs public goods. Her book is a fine piece of example-driven political theory and a timely contribution to the urgent task of refurbishing the social bases of Western democracies.