Public Administration & Public Management
The Principal-Agent Perspective
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Book Description
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.
Table of Contents
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
Author(s)
Biography
Jan-Erik Lane is professor of political science at the University of Geneva. His two main fields of academic research include public administration & management and comparative politics. He has taught courses on government at universities in several countries.