IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/atlecj/v27y1999i1p91-113.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Public policy and the quality of life: How relevant is economics? Public policy and the quality of life: Market incentives versus government planning Randall G. Holcombe greenwood press, 1995, 190 pp

Author

Listed:
  • Patrick Welle

Abstract

This article summarizes and critiques Holcombe's arguments on the influence of private ownership and markets on the quality of life. Holcombe summarizes the free market-oriented literature and provides interesting anecdotes in arguing that markets are superior to public policies and more cost-effective in pursuing social goals such as health care, environmental protection, and housing. This critique argues that Holcombe's approach is much too narrow in that it reduces the quality of life to commercial value, cost minimization, and property rights. Economic analysis can become more relevant to the public discourse by recognizing that social values are broader than cost minimization and efficiency. Public sensibilities on equity, justice, equal opportunity, and human dignity shape the sociocultural context for evaluating the impact of public policy on the quality of life. Ideas are offered for enhancing the relevance of economics to policy discussions on the quality of life. Copyright International Atlantic Economic Society 1999

Suggested Citation

  • Patrick Welle, 1999. "Public policy and the quality of life: How relevant is economics? Public policy and the quality of life: Market incentives versus government planning Randall G. Holcombe greenwood press, 1995, 190 pp," Atlantic Economic Journal, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 27(1), pages 91-113, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:atlecj:v:27:y:1999:i:1:p:91-113
    DOI: 10.1007/BF02299181
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/BF02299181
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/BF02299181?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Tideman, T Nicolaus & Tullock, Gordon, 1976. "A New and Superior Process for Making Social Choices," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 84(6), pages 1145-1159, December.
    2. Dahlman, Carl J, 1979. "The Problem of Externality," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 22(1), pages 141-162, April.
    3. Harberger, Arnold C, 1978. "On the Use of Distributional Weights in Social Cost-Benefit Analysis," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 86(2), pages 87-120, April.
    4. R. H. Coase, 2013. "The Problem of Social Cost," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 56(4), pages 837-877.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Élodie Bertrand, 2006. "La thèse d'efficience du « théorème de Coase ». Quelle critique de la microéconomie ?," Revue économique, Presses de Sciences-Po, vol. 57(5), pages 983-1007.
    2. Petrick, Martin, 2004. "Governing Structural Change And Externalities In Agriculture: Toward A Normative Institutional Economics Of Rural Development," IAMO Discussion Papers 14878, Institute of Agricultural Development in Transition Economies (IAMO).
    3. Jascha-Alexander Koch & Jens Lausen & Moritz Kohlhase, 2021. "Internalizing the externalities of overfunding: an agent-based model approach for analyzing the market dynamics on crowdfunding platforms," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 91(9), pages 1387-1430, November.
    4. Kverndokk, Snorre & Rose, Adam, 2008. "Equity and Justice in Global Warming Policy," International Review of Environmental and Resource Economics, now publishers, vol. 2(2), pages 135-176, October.
    5. Robert W. Hahn & Robert N. Stavins, 2011. "The Effect of Allowance Allocations on Cap-and-Trade System Performance," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 54(S4), pages 267-294.
    6. Oleksandr Sushchenko & Reimund Schwarze, 2016. "Carbon taxation and market financial instruments for mobilizing climate finance," Discussion Paper Series RECAP15 23, RECAP15, European University Viadrina, Frankfurt (Oder).
    7. Olivier Meier & Aurélie Sannajust, 0. "The smart contract revolution: a solution for the holdup problem?," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 0, pages 1-16.
    8. Ajit Kambil & Eric van Heck, 1998. "Reengineering the Dutch Flower Auctions: A Framework for Analyzing Exchange Organizations," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 9(1), pages 1-19, March.
    9. Tom Burns & Ewa Roszkowska, 2009. "A social procedural approach to the Pareto optimization problematique: Part II. Institutionalized procedures and their limitations," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 43(5), pages 805-832, September.
    10. Heindl, Peter, 2012. "Transaction costs and tradable permits: Empirical evidence from the EU emissions trading scheme," ZEW Discussion Papers 12-021, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    11. Ervin, David E. & Fox, Glenn, 1998. "Environmental Policy Considerations In The Grain-Livestock Subsectors In Canada, Mexico And The United States," Proceedings of the 4th Agricultural and Food Policy Systems Information Workshop 1998: Economic Harmonization in the Canadian\U.S.\Mexican Grain-Livestock Subsector; 16754, Farm Foundation, Agricultural and Food Policy Systems Information Workshops.
    12. Christophe Depres & Gilles Grolleau & Naoufel Mzoughi, 2008. "Contracting for Environmental Property Rights: The Case of Vittel," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 75(299), pages 412-434, August.
    13. Vítor Gaspar, 2010. "Financial Stability and Policy Cooperation," Working Papers o201001, Banco de Portugal, Economics and Research Department.
    14. Centner, Terence J. & Griffin, Ronald C., 1998. "Externalities From Roaming Livestock: Explaining The Demise Of The Open Range," Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Western Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 23(1), pages 1-14, July.
    15. Chu, Mei-chin & Swinton, Scott M. & Batie, Sandra S. & Dobbins, Craig & Doering, Otto, III & Ritchie, Joe T., 1995. "Designing Contracts To Reduce Agricultural Non-Point Source Pollution," 1995 Annual Meeting, August 6-9, Indianapolis, Indiana 271474, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    16. Maurice Lagueux, 2010. "The residual character of externalities," The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(4), pages 957-973.
    17. Shteryo Nozharov, 2023. "Social costs of circular economy in European Union," Post-Print hal-04307150, HAL.
    18. Peter Maskell & Mark Lorenzen, 2004. "The Cluster as Market Organisation," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 41(5-6), pages 991-1009, May.
    19. Anthoff, David & Hepburn, Cameron & Tol, Richard S.J., 2009. "Equity weighting and the marginal damage costs of climate change," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(3), pages 836-849, January.
    20. Coggan, Anthea & Whitten, Stuart M. & Bennett, Jeff, 2010. "Influences of transaction costs in environmental policy," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(9), pages 1777-1784, July.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:atlecj:v:27:y:1999:i:1:p:91-113. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.