Can the nation's social programs survive the push toward leaner appropriations, a greater use of the market, and a narrower definition of the needy? A program to provide housing assistance for the poor is proposed that fills all these requirements. Housing vouchers are found to be cheaper than...

Analysts who act as employees or advisors in agencies that make public policy may find themselves operating in any of several different roles. They may see themselves as objective technicians, above the political fray, or as advocates of causes of their own choosing, or as unquestioning...

Judge Johnson's remarkable role in the reform of Alabama's mental health and prison facilities suggests that judges may have greater control over the agendas of policymaking than is normally assumed. In omnibus cases, the judge may be more interested in pushing state officials in the “right”...

In 1974, President Ford initiated a procedure by which the regulatory policies of federal agencies were subjected to systematic oversight. This activity continued with modest success through subsequent administrations. A substantial stiffening of oversight powers under President Reagan raises...

In 1979, the U.S. government responded to the threat that Chrysler might close its doors with a program that had almost no U.S. precedents. The policy that lay behind the program was obscure at the time and remains so. A variant of the traditional argument for the protection of infant industries...

Those who support a greater role for the private sector in the delivery of social services cite evidence indicating that private organizations are more efficient than public agencies. Many of the quality differences between the two types of organizations, however, stem from differences in the...