Choosing Roles And Missions For Government And The Private Sector

This Note presents a preliminary conceptual framework for reconsidering the existing division of responsibilities between public and private sectors, and among different levels of government. With this framework as a guide, the Note reviews previous evaluations of alternative assignments of responsibility for three diverse program areas--electric power, public welfare, and industrial policy. In general, the empirical literature provides limited coverage of the framework's evaluation foci, and thus only partially informs assignment decisions. However, among his tentative conclusions, the author found that cost-conscious communities would, on the average, fare better with public providers of electricity, or a regulated private arrangement as the next best choice; and whichever level of government sets spending standards and guidelines for a particular public assistance program should also bear responsibility for financing it.

Provides a formal theory of nonmarket failure, analyzing such problems as redundant costs, monopoly, frequency of unanticipated externalities, and bureaucracy in such nonmarket institutions as foundations, universities, and government. A theory of market failures is well established in economics, but the same has not been true for the study of nonmarket failures. Markets or Governments remedies this situation by providing a formal theory of nonmarket failure, analyzing such problems as redundant costs, monopoly, frequency of unanticipated externalities, and bureaucracy in such nonmarket institutions as foundations, universities, and government. This new edition updates the data and results contained in the first edition and includes references and applications of the theory to the ongoing process of system transformation in Russia, Ukraine, and Eastern Europe. The discussion of earlier literature that is relevant to the theory of nonmarket failure has been expanded.

Includes publications previously listed in the supplements to the Index of selected publications of the Rand Corporation (Oct. 1962-Feb. 1963)

Following the President's decision in January 2010 to withdraw the license application for a geologic repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, the Secretary of Energy established the Blue Ribbon Commission on America's Nuclear Future (BRC) to consider alternatives to the nation's current institutional arrangements for management and disposition of used fuel and defense high-level nuclear waste. In February 2012, the BRC issued its final report. Among its recommendations was a call for a new, single purpose organization to be established to replace the Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management (OCRWM) in the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) that had been established under the authority of the 1982 Nuclear Waste Policy Act. The BRC suggested that a congressionally chartered federal corporation offers the most promising model, but the commission left open the possibility of alternative concepts to achieve the desired ends. In response to this recommendation, DOE asked the RAND Corporation to examine alternative organizational models for such a new management and disposition organization (MDO). Our study supports the work of DOE's Office of Nuclear Energy and the Management and Disposition Working Group(MDWG) formed to consider implementation options and activities.

A new way forward for sustainable quality of life in cities of all sizes Strong Towns: A Bottom-Up Revolution to Build American Prosperity is a book of forward-thinking ideas that breaks with modern wisdom to present a new vision of urban development in the United States. Presenting the foundational ideas of the Strong Towns movement he co-founded, Charles Marohn explains why cities of all sizes continue to struggle to meet their basic needs, and reveals the new paradigm that can solve this longstanding problem. Inside, you’ll learn why inducing growth and development has been the conventional response to urban financial struggles—and why it just doesn’t work. New development and high-risk investing don’t generate enough wealth to support itself, and cities continue to struggle. Read this book to find out how cities large and small can focus on bottom-up investments to minimize risk and maximize their ability to strengthen the community financially and improve citizens’ quality of life. Develop in-depth knowledge of the underlying logic behind the “traditional” search for never-ending urban growth Learn practical solutions for ameliorating financial struggles through low-risk investment and a grassroots focus Gain insights and tools that can stop the vicious cycle of budget shortfalls and unexpected downturns Become a part of the Strong Towns revolution by shifting the focus away from top-down growth toward rebuilding American prosperity Strong Towns acknowledges that there is a problem with the American approach to growth and shows community leaders a new way forward. The Strong Towns response is a revolution in how we assemble the places we live.

Since the 1980s, the language used around market-based government has muddied its meaning and polarized its proponents and critics, making the topic politicized and controversial. Competition, Choice, and Incentives in Government Programs hopes to reframe competing views of market-based government so it is seen not as an ideology but rather as a fact-based set of approaches for managing government services and programs more efficiently and effectively.