Public Goods, Public Enterprise, Public Choice Theoretical Foundatio
'A brilliant critical and fresh look at the public choice school of thought.' - Paul Streeten This book challenges theories of public goods, public enterprise and public choice on three fronts. Government action reflects wider interests and commitments th
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Also by Hugh Stretton
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MARKETS, MORALS AND PUBLIC POLICY (edited with Robert Dare)
Public Goods, Public Enterprise, Public Choice Theoretical Foundations of the Contemporary Attack on Government Hugh Stretton and
Lionel Orchard
© Hugh Stretton and Lionel Orchard 1994 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenhnm Court Road, London WI P 9HE. Any person who does any unauthorised net in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. First published in Great Britain 1994 by THE MACMILLAN PRESS LTD Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 2XS and London Companies and representatives throughout the world A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 978-0-333-60725-1 ISBN 978-1-349-23505-6 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-23505-6
First published in the United States of America 1994 by Scholarly and Reference Division, ST. MARTIN'S PRESS, INC., 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010 ISBN 978-0-312-10742-0 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Stretton, Hugh. Public goods, public enterprise, public choice : theoretical foundations of the contemporary attack on government/ Hugh Stretton, Lionel Orchard. p. em. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-312-10742-0 I. Public goods. 2. Social choice. 3. Government business enterprises. 4. Economic policy. I. Orchard, Lionel. II. Title. HB846. 5.073 1994 338.9-dc20 93-31621 CIP 8 7 6 5 4 3 02
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Contents PART ONE
2
Motives Authors' purposes Citizens' purposes Institutions' purposes Culture and motivation Summary Theorists' purposes
1 1 3 7 15 17 19
A Very Short History An age of innocence: Buchanan, Arrow, Samuelson Individual gain as the only political motive: Downs, Tullock,
21 21
rn~
Factual versus axiomatic accounts of bureaucracy Rent-seeking Coming of age: the state of the art in 1971 Empirical studies of private gains from government Explanation, prediction and Occam's Razor Direct and representative democracy The size of government Public enterprise Critics
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36 38 40 42 44 45 46 47 48
PART TWO 3
Public Goods Public goods theory Social choice theory The theories together The uses of public goods Summary
54 54 57 65 71 77
4
Public Enterprise Facts Questions Criteria of efficiency
80 80 83 84 vii
Contents
viii
5
Consumer sovereignty Incentives in theory and practice Workers' incentives Directors' incentives Death, takeover, reform Enterprise and sy
