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Reinvention and retrenchment: Lessons from the application of the New Zealand model to Alberta, Canada

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  • Herman M. Schwartz

    (Government and Foreign Affairs, 232 Cabell Hall, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22901)

Abstract

Is New Zealand a model for “reinventing” government and cutting spending? The government of Alberta, Canada, consciously replicated significant elements of the New Zealand model to attain fiscal balance and public sector reorganization, including the core element of restructuring institutions to change individual behavior. Despite broad similarities in policy content and outcome, differences in the specific content of policy and the politics of policy implementation led to differences in the sustainability of reform and the location of budget cuts. Alberta's Progressive Conservative party emphasized expenditure cuts where both the New Zealand Labour and National parties emphasized government reorganization and the introduction of market mechanisms. Contrasting these efforts to balance budgets and reinvent government suggests that there is considerable variation in the “model,” and that left governments in general are probably more likely to pursue and succeed at the reinvention of government, while stinting fiscal balance. Right governments, on the other hand, are more likely to achieve short-run fiscal balance at the expense of successful reinvention. In turn this suggests that while the partisan orientation of the reforming party matters, neither has an ideal policy mix for long-term fiscal stability. Alternation of governments may provide the best policy mix.

Suggested Citation

  • Herman M. Schwartz, 1997. "Reinvention and retrenchment: Lessons from the application of the New Zealand model to Alberta, Canada," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 16(3), pages 405-422.
  • Handle: RePEc:wly:jpamgt:v:16:y:1997:i:3:p:405-422
    DOI: 10.1002/(SICI)1520-6688(199722)16:3<405::AID-PAM3>3.0.CO;2-L
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Peter J. Smith, 1991. "The Politics of Plenty: Investing Natural Resource Revenues in Alberta and Alaska," Canadian Public Policy, University of Toronto Press, vol. 17(2), pages 139-154, June.
    2. Alberto Alesina & Roberto Perotti, 1995. "Fiscal Expansions and Fiscal Adjustments in OECD Countries," NBER Working Papers 5214, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Ronald D. Kneebone, 1994. "Deficits and Debt in Canada: Some Lessons from Recent History," Canadian Public Policy, University of Toronto Press, vol. 20(2), pages 152-164, June.
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    Cited by:

    1. Cosmo Howard, 2015. "Rethinking Post-NPM Governance: The Bureaucratic Struggle to Implement One-Stop-Shopping for Government Services in Alberta," Public Organization Review, Springer, vol. 15(2), pages 237-254, June.

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