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Learning from Failure: A Review of Peter Schuck's Why Government Fails So Often: And How It Can Do Better

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  • David M. Levy
  • Sandra J. Peart

Abstract

Peter Schuck catalogs an overwhelming list of US government failures. He points to both structural problems (culture and institutions) and incentives. Despairing of cultural change, Schuck focuses on incentives. He relies on Charles Wolf's theory of nonmarket failures in which "internalities" replace the heavily-studied market failure from externalities (Wolf 1979). Internalities are evidence of a discord between the public goals by which a program is defended and the private goals of its administrators. What might economists contribute? We suggest that economists have neglected internalities because they take group goals as exogenously determined and we defend an alternative tradition in which group goals are endogenously determined. (JEL A11, D72, D82)

Suggested Citation

  • David M. Levy & Sandra J. Peart, 2015. "Learning from Failure: A Review of Peter Schuck's Why Government Fails So Often: And How It Can Do Better," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 53(3), pages 667-674, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:aea:jeclit:v:53:y:2015:i:3:p:667-74
    Note: DOI: 10.1257/jel.53.3.667
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. W. Braddock Hickman, 1958. "Corporate Bond Quality and Investor Experience," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number hick58-1, June.
    2. Ronnie Phillips, 1992. "The 'Chicago Plan' and New Deal Banking Reform," Economics Working Paper Archive wp_76, Levy Economics Institute.
    3. Wolf, Charles, Jr, 1979. "A Theory of Nonmarket Failure: Framework for Implementation Analysis," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 22(1), pages 107-139, April.
    4. Levy, David M. & Peart, Sandra J., 2011. "Soviet growth and American textbooks: An endogenous past," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 78(1-2), pages 110-125, April.
    5. W. Braddock Hickman, 1958. "Introduction and Summary of Findings to "Corporate Bond Quality and Investor Experience"," NBER Chapters, in: Corporate Bond Quality and Investor Experience, pages 3-27, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. W. Braddock Hickman, 1958. "Index to "Corporate Bond Quality and Investor Experience"," NBER Chapters, in: Corporate Bond Quality and Investor Experience, pages 531-536, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
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    Cited by:

    1. Jacky MATHONNAT & Aurore PELISSIER, 2017. "How a Results-Based Financing approach can contribute to the health Sustainable Development Goals - Policy-oriented lessons: what we know, what we need to know and don’t yet know," Working Papers P204, FERDI.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • A11 - General Economics and Teaching - - General Economics - - - Role of Economics; Role of Economists
    • D72 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
    • D82 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Asymmetric and Private Information; Mechanism Design

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