Economists have less influence on congressional decision-making than they might because they do not make a sufficient effort to learn how issues look from the politicians' point of view. Politics and economics are inextricably connected in congressional decision-making. For those economists who...

Many goods and services are thought to be most efficiently provided under monopoly or oligopoly conditions. For instance, copyright is generally deemed of great value to authors, artists, and the public, an essential element to an efficient market in intellectual and artistic creation. Yet,...

Commentators in the field of policy analysis have argued persuasively for the inclusion of ethical evaluations in the analytic process, yet most practitioners in the policy field avoid analyzing moral issues. Standard explanations for this neglect of ethics tend to be inadequate; assertions that...

In 1978, OSHA took a major step in attempting to promote the health of workers in the textile industry, tightening its standard on cotton dust levels in textile plants. Because the OSHA cotton dust standard was widely believed to be ineffective, it became the target of a major political debate...

In relations with their state-owned enterprises, governments try to capture the advantages that are thought to exist in operating through autonomous institutions. At the same time, they attempt to prod the enterprises toward a set of governmental goals. The resulting relationships between...