Public and private sector decision making is studied with an experiment. The study compares decision making in a tax-supported general purpose governmental agency with that done by a business firm selling to a market, using a simulation to capture differences in the preferences and practices of mid-level managers working in the two sectors. The simulation calls for participating managers to ass...

BACKGROUND The article explores the implications of personal budgets within English social care services, which position the individual as market actor. Rooting the research in the broader personalization agenda, the study looks at the limitations of the market in relation to individual purchase of private goods (e.g. home care), in the pooling of funds to purchase group services and in the pro...

Public budget is the engine that drives any economy; thus, budget transparency contributes to shaping the political process and government performance. The current study examines the relationship between budget transparency (measured by Open Budget Index (OBI)) and governance quality (measured by Worldwide Governance Indicators (WGI)). The study covers four years – 2006, 2008, 2010, and 2012 – ...

We present a model in which a conservative incumbent with preferences for low public spending can strategically run a budget deficit to prevent the left-wing opposition candidate from choosing high public spending if elected, and possibly also to ensure his own reelection. We find that the incumbent never manipulates the opposition candidate’s public spending if he can ensure his reelection; an...