BUREAUCRACY AND PUBLIC ECONOMICS

by William A. Niskanen Jr.

Bureaucracy and Public Economics brings together in one volume the classic book and related articles which put forward the first formal economic theory of the behaviour of bureaucracies. William Niskanen Jr. consistently argued that bureaucrats have personal objectives - that differ from those of both their political supervisors and the general public - which they further by use of their monopoly power. He develops his argument to contend that government budgets have become too large and should be curtailed. All of Professor Niskanen's major contributions to this field have been brought together in this one volume including his pioneering article on 'The Peculiar Economics of Bureaucracy', the full text of the book Bureaucracy and Representative Government and his recent reassessment of the larger body of scholarship on the economics of bureaucracy. Scholars, students and teachers of public economics will welcome this volume which, by making some of the key contributions in the field more widely accessible, will provoke discussion, debate and further research.

320 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1994

About the author

William Arthur Niskanen Jr. (March 13, 1933, Bend, Oregon – October 26, 2011, Washington, D.C.) was an American economist noted as one of the architects of President Ronald Reagan's economic program and for his contributions to public choice theory. He was also a long-time chairman of the libertarian Cato Institute.

Reviews

[Rob · Rating 4 out of 5]

The primary objective of bureaucrats in the public sector is not the public good, but the increase in their bureau's discretionary budget.

I will be a public choice theorist if it's the last thing I do.