Professionalizing the system of control in a still public system implies that the university administration becomes an agent of the academic board of the university rather than serving the interests of the state as the principal. This induced organizational change alters the bargaining positions...

The principal-agent framework is a rapidly developing approach to the analysis of contractual relationships within the private sector. We argue that it should be a promising approach to the analysis of public policy commitments as well. As a matter of fact, it allows the statement of a number of...