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Bardach: 71 - 95 |
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Patton & Sawicki: 227 - 256 |
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RES #4: Salamon, Lester M.. 2002. "The New
Governance and the Tools of Public Action: An Introduction." in
Lester M. Salamon (ed) The Tools of Government: A Guide to the New
Governance. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. |
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One of the problems with government intervention in the
economy is that there are limits to what government can do and how it
can do it. Thus, it should surprise you to read articles pointing
out the inefficiencies associated with government "stimulus" programs
and job creation. See this
article from the
Weekly Standard that presents a criticism of the recent stimulus bill
from a conservative point of view (7/11). However,
ABC news and other news
outlets have also reported the relatively high cost-per-job associated
with different components of the stimulus bill (ABC 10/09).
The Cash for Clunkers program has received particular scrutiny (Download
this series of articles critiquing the program - 10/09). |
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Sometimes government chooses to deregulate activities.
See this article about some
recent
efforts to streamline government regulations (5/11).
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Taxes on the supply or demand side are often used to
influence behavior. For example, there is a proposal for
Dutch
drivers to pay a tax based on their time on the road rather than
charging a purchase tax and road tax (AP 11/09). Locally, the
Cape Fear Public
Utility Authority has been criticized because it changed the rate
structure to create incentives to use less water (Star News 6/09).
The
Obama Administration floats a proposal to create a vehicle miles
traveled tax (The Hill 5/11). How might this influence
driver behavior or the purchasing or automobiles?
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Sometimes government chooses to subsidize the production
or consumption of a particular product of service. See this
article from describing the widescale use of subsidies for clean energy
in recent years (NY Times - 11/11/11). Alternatively, see this article on how the government
subsidizes flights at rural
airports to provide service to rural areas (AP - 8/11). |
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One of the problems of using policy instruments is that
they can result in unintended consequences. See this collection of
articles describing some of the problems associated with
using stimulus grants and loan guarantees to encourage the production
and consumption of clean energy (11/11). See this article on
how
subsidizing ethanol production is raising food prices (USA Today 2/11).
See this article on
how auto
dealerships are scamming Chevy Volt Tax Credits (NLPC 5/11).
This article describes how a
tax designed to reduce energy is threatening research on how to produce
green energy in the U.K. (Guardian 5/11). What if tax policy
is changed to reduce deductions that the "rich" take. Many
nonprofits worry
about how it would impact donations to their organizations (AP 5/09).
What if cap and trade proposals actually reduced the stigma associated
with polluting and actually led to increased pollution (Download
article from the Christina Science Monitor - 7/08). |
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See this article for an example of the
adverse impacts of
sugar price supports (10/11) while this article discusses
how tariffs limit the importation of ethanol from Brazil, which raises
costs for U.S. consumers (Desmoine Register 2008) |
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An interesting information asymmetry in education is the
lack of knowledge about the quality of individual teachers. See
this interesting article on the debate surrounding proposals to
rate teachers (USA
Today 9/10) |
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Assuming that the Christmas Tree really had an image
problem and that there is a legitimate rationale for government to
promote the consumption of live trees over fake trees, does taxing the
produce make much sense (Download
articles from 11/9/11)? Using the
handout summarizing the
general policy instruments, can you think of other alternatives to
better accomplish the sale and consumption of live Christmas Trees over
fake trees? |
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There are several notable aspects of the insurance
problem that create rationales for government intervention. That
said, it is often controversial and can lead to unintended consequences.
See this interesting
set of editorials
debating catastrophic coverage due to storm events (USA Today 11/07).
It is also clear that the provisions of President Obama's Healthcare
reform program are triggering rate increases for current policy holders
(Download this
article on the increases to the premiums for federal workers -
Government Executive 10/10). |
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See this interesting
article from
Parade magazine summarizing the new book Superfreakonomics
(10/09) |
