Inter and Intra Government Arrangements for Productivity : An Agency Approach

__Inter and Intra Governmental Arrangements for Productivity - An____Agency Approach__ focuses on public productivity. It addresses long standing and current questions on government productivity. Its scope and coverage range from theory to very specific applications. First of all it demonstrates the applicability of a theoretical framework to concrete issues in the public sector: the Principal Agent (PA) theory or the Agency theory. Secondly, it demonstrates the different perspectives of this theoretical framework as seen by researchers and practitioners from various countries. The volume is based upon the revised seminar papers from a conference that was held at the University of Twente. Two trends obvious in this world are its increasing global character and the need for increasingly efficient and effective organizations. Inter and intra governmental organizations need to learn to effectively and efficiently work together in complex web like relationships. This study forms a major step in that direction. It consolidates several current economic concepts that are highly visible and specifically applies them to various levels and functions of government. It emphasizes that PA theory is a powerful conceptual framework because of the economic focus on transactions between principals and agents. The issues of information asymmetry, across government constituents, political/diplomatic considerations, and the narrow focus of PA problems will be described. Attention is also given to the issues of citizen demands, internal markets, franchising, competitive procurement and `contracting in'. The study concentrates on academic thinking about the applicability of PA concepts to administrative theory building. As such it makes a current, valid contribution to the knowledge and practice of public administration world-wide. Inter and Intra Governmental Arrangements for Productivity - An Agency Approach focuses on public productivity. It addresses long standing and current questions on government productivity. Its scope and coverage range from theory to very specific applications. First of all it demonstrates the applicability of a theoretical framework to concrete issues in the public sector: the Principal Agent (PA) theory or the Agency theory. Secondly, it demonstrates the different perspectives of this theoretical framework as seen by researchers and practitioners from various countries. The volume is based upon the revised seminar papers from a conference that was held at the University of Twente. Two trends obvious in this world are its increasing global character and the need for increasingly efficient and effective organizations. Inter and intra governmental organizations need to learn to effectively and efficiently work together in complex web like relationships. This study forms a major step in that direction. It consolidates several current economic concepts that are highly visible and specifically applies them to various levels and functions of government. It emphasizes that PA theory is a powerful conceptual framework because of the economic focus on transactions between principals and agents. The issues of information asymmetry, across government constituents, political/diplomatic considerations, and the narrow focus of PA problems will be described. Attention is also given to the issues of citizen demands, internal markets, franchising, competitive procurement and `contracting in'. The study concentrates on academic thinking about the applicability of PA concepts to administrative theory building. As such it makes a current, valid contribution to the knowledge and practice of public administration world-wide. Inter and Intra Governmental Arrangements for Productivity - An Agency Approach focuses on public productivity. It addresses long standing and current questions on government productivity. Its scope and coverage range from theory to very specific applications. First of all it demonstrates the applicability of a theoretical framework to concrete issues in the public sector: the Principal Agent (PA) theory or the Agency theory. Secondly, it demonstrates the different perspectives of this theoretical framework as seen by researchers and practitioners from various countries. The volume is based upon the revised seminar papers from a conference that was held at the University of Twente. Two trends obvious in this world are its increasing global character and the need for increasingly efficient and effective organizations. Inter and intra governmental organizations need to learn to effectively and efficiently work together in complex web like relationships. This study forms a major step in that direction. It consolidates several current economic concepts that are highly visible and specifically applies them to various levels and functions of government. It emphasizes that PA theory is a powerful conceptual framework because of the economic focus on transactions between principals and agents. The issues of information asymmetry, across government constituents, political/diplomatic considerations, and the narrow focus of PA problems will be described. Attention is also given to the issues of citizen demands, internal markets, franchising, competitive procurement and 'scontracting in'. The study concentrates on academic thinking about the applicability of PA concepts to administrative theory building. As such it makes a current, valid contribution to the knowledge and practice of public administration world-wide Front Matter....Pages i-xxxii Front Matter....Pages xxxiii-xxxiii The “Contract and Agency State” as a Multiple Principal-Agent Problem....Pages 1-13 Decentralization in an Inter-Governmental Context: The UK Experience of Managing Local Service Delivery....Pages 15-29 Partnerships and Networks as Self-Organizing Systems: an Antidote to Principal-Agent Theory....Pages 31-44 Franchising in Government: An Idea in Search of a Theory....Pages 45-57 Transfer Pricing in Government Organizations....Pages 59-68 Front Matter....Pages N3-N3 Private and Municipal Care Institutions....Pages 69-75 Relative Efficiency of Intermunicipal Provision....Pages 77-85 Efficiency and Effectiveness of Partnership in Southern European Metropolitan Administration....Pages 87-100 Inter and Intra Governmental Arrangements for Productivity — The Delivery of Justice Services: A View from Practice....Pages 101-116 An Agent’s Perspective on East-West Administrative Cooperation in the Field of Training....Pages 117-135 Front Matter....Pages N6-N6 Public Sector Performance Management in a Principal-Agent Context: Some Reflections....Pages 137-145 Desigining Audit and Performance Systems in a Multi-Agency Environment: The Case of the European Union....Pages 147-162 Consultancy in Government: Conditions for Success of a ‘Change Agent’....Pages 163-177 Enhancing the Capability of O & M to Carry Out More Effective Studies....Pages 179-191 Back Matter....Pages 193-201