The Incentive Relation in Implementation

The paper introduces the concepts of incentive relation and implementation relation, discussing them in the context of agent-principal relationships. The incentives literature relevant to implementation is reviewed, as well as relevant literature on individual behavior in organizations and on inter-organizational behavior. We then construct a framework for an incentive system theory and, from that basis, a model of incentive systems in organizations. We then analyze the literature on public policy implementation using the incentive system model. Finally, we present a seven-stage model for analyzing incentive systems, including frame selection, mapping, dependency analysis, contingency analysis, intervention strategy selection, intervention implementation, and intervention assessment.This copy available from SSRN contains several corrections of errors introduced by the printer when the paper was originally published in Public Policy Implementation (1984)