POLI 3Q97 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: New Public Management, William A. Niskanen, Public Choice
Document Summary
Given its assertions about self-interest, public choice theory denies that the public service can be impartially committed to the public interest. Rather, public servants always try to maximize their own self-interests. This is why, according to theorists like william niskanen, the public sector expanded dramatically in the post-war period. Public choice theory argues that governments are inherently inefficient because they have no pricing mechanism linking production and demand. This increasing productivity results from the application of technology, which can only be implemented and used successfully if there is a disciplined workforce. This occurs in the private sector because of professional, high quality managers who actually have the right to manage. This is one reason why management in the private sector is superior to management in the public sector: the new public management, therefore, there are two related solutions to improving the public sector.