Promoting the General Welfare

New Perspectives on Government Performance

Alan S. Gerber, Eric M. Patashnik, Alan S. Gerber, Eric M. Patashnik

• Publisher: Brookings Institution Press
• Year: 2007
• Print ISBN: 9780815731207
• eBook ISBN: 9780815731221
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: Social Policy
• Index: Politics & International Relations

The U.S. Constitution calls on the government to ""promote the general welfare."" In this provocative and innovative book, a distinguished roster of political scientists and economists evaluates its ability to carry out this task. The first section of the book analyzes government performance in the areas of health, transportation, housing, and education, suggesting why suboptimal policies often prevail. The second set of chapters examines two novel and sometimes controversial tools that can be used to improve policy design: information markets and laboratory experiments. Finally, the third part of the book asks how three key institutions—Congress, the party system, and federalism—affect government's ability to solve important social problems. These chapters also raise the disturbing possibility that recent political developments have contributed to a decline in governmental problem-solving activity. Taken together, the essays in this volume suggest that opportunities to promote the common good are frequently missed in modern American government. But the book also carries a more hopeful message. By identifying possible solutions to the problems created by weak incentives, poor information, and inadequate institutional capacity, Promoting the General Welfare shows how government performance can be improved. Contributors include Eugene Bardach (University of California-Berkeley), Sarah Binder (Brookings Institution and George Washington University), Morris P. Fiorina (Stanford University), Jay P. Greene (University of Arkansas), Robin Hanson (George Mason University), Charles A. Holt (University of Virginia), David R. Mayhew (Yale University), Edgar O. Olsen (University of Virginia), Mark Carl Rom (Georgetown University), Roberta Romano (Yale Law School), William M. Shobe (University of Virginia), Angela M. Smith (University of Virginia), Aidan R. Vining (Simon Fraser University), David L. Weimer (University of Wisconsin-Madison), and Clifford Winston (Brookings Institution).

Table of contents

• Front Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Preface
• Part I: Introduction
• Chapter 1: Government Performance: Missing Opportunities to Solve Problems
• Chapter 2: Policy Analysis in Representative Democracy
• Part II: Documenting Government Performance Failures
• Chapter 3: Sham Surgery: The Problem of Inadequate Medical Evidence
• Chapter 4: Urban Transportation
• Chapter 5: Achieving Fundamental Housing Policy Reform
• Chapter 6: Fixing Special Education
• Part III: New Tools for Problem Solving
• Chapter 7: Decision Markets for Policy Advice
• Chapter 8: An Experimental Basis for Public Policy Initiatives
• Part IV: Political Institutions as Problem Solvers?
• Chapter 9: Can Congress Serve the General Welfare?
• Chapter 10: Congress as Problem Solver
• Chapter 11: Parties as Problem Solvers
• Chapter 12: Taking the Brandeis Metaphor Seriously: Policy Experimentation within a Federal System
• Chapter 13: The States as a Laboratory: Legal Innovation and State Competition for Corporate Charters
• Part V: Conclusion
• Chapter 14: Two Perspectives on Governmental Underperformance
• Contributors
• Index
• Back Cover