1st Edition

Public Administration & Public Management The Principal-Agent Perspective

By Jan-Erik Lane Copyright 2005
    304 Pages
    by Routledge

    304 Pages
    by Routledge

    A perspective on the public sector that presents a concise and comprehensive analysis of exactly what it is and how it operates.

    Governments in any society deliver a large number of services and goods to their populations. To get the job done, they need public management in order to steer resources – employees, money and laws – into policy outputs and outcomes. In well-ordered societies the teams who work for the state work under a rule-of-law framework, known as public administration. This book covers the key issues of:

    • the principal-agent framework and the public sector
    • public principals and their agents 
    • the economic reasons of government
    • public organization, incentives and rationality in government
    • the essence of public administration: legality and the rule of law
    • public policy criteria: the Cambridge and Chicago positions
    • public teams and private teams
    • public firms
    • public insurance
    • public management policy

    Public Administration & Public Management is essential reading for those with professional and research interests in public administration and public management.

    Introduction: The Public and the Private Sectors  1. The Principal-Agent Framework and the Public Sector  2. Public Principals and their Agents  3. The Economic Reasons of Government  4. Public Organisation, Incentives and Rationality in Government  5. The Essence of Public Administration: Legality and the Rule of Law  6. Public Policy Criteria: The Cambridge and Chicago Positions  7. Public Teams are Different from Private Teams

    Biography

    Jan-Erik Lane