Why Government Fails So Often: And How It Can Do Better

by Peter H. Schuck

Overview

How government can implement more successful policies, more often

From healthcare to workplace and campus conduct, the federal government is taking on ever more responsibility for managing our lives. At the same time, Americans have never been more disaffected with Washington, seeing it as an intrusive, incompetent, wasteful giant. Ineffective policies are caused by deep structural factors regardless of which party is in charge, bringing our government into ever-worsening disrepute. Understanding why government fails so often—and how it might become more effective—is a vital responsibility of citizenship.

In this book, lawyer and political scientist Peter Schuck provides a wide range of examples and an enormous body of evidence to explain why so many domestic policies go awry—and how to right the foundering ship of state. An urgent call for reform, Why Government Fails So Often is essential reading for anyone curious about why government is in such a disgraceful state and how it can do better.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780691161624
Publisher:	Princeton University Press
Publication date:	03/30/2014
Pages:	488
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 9.20(h) x 1.50(d)

About the Author

Peter H. Schuck is the Simeon E. Baldwin Professor of Law Emeritus at Yale University. He is the author or editor of many books, including Agent Orange on Trial, Meditations of a Militant Moderate, Diversity in America, and Understanding America.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ix

CHAPTER 1: Introduction 1

PART 1: The Context of Policy Making 37

CHAPTER 2: Success, Failure, and In Between 39

CHAPTER 3: Policy-Making Functions, Processes, Missions, Instruments, and Institutions 64

CHAPTER 4: The Political Culture of Policy Making 91

PART 2: The Structural Sources of Policy Failure 125

CHAPTER 5: Incentives and Collective Irrationality 127

CHAPTER 6: Information, Inflexibility, Incredibility, and Mismanagement 161

CHAPTER 7: Markets 198

CHAPTER 8: Implementation 229

CHAPTER 9: The Limits of Law 277

CHAPTER 10: The Bureaucracy 307

CHAPTER 11: Policy Successes 327

PART 3: Remedies and Reprise 369

CHAPTER 12: Remedies: Lowering Government's Failure Rate 371

CHAPTER 13: Conclusion 408

Notes 413

Index 463

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"For Peter Schuck, 'government failure' is neither a political creed nor a reactionary slogan. It is an empirical fact that demands explanation and response. His book shows that, at the federal level, policy failure is pervasive, nonpartisan, and firmly rooted in our political culture and inherent features of government organization. Schuck has some excellent suggestions for improvement, but his great contribution is in his analysis. Why Government Fails So Often defines the central problem of modern politics and illuminates it with a range and sophistication it has never received before."—Christopher DeMuth, Hudson Institute

"The botched rollout of the Affordable Care Act website reminded Americans of how badly the machinery of government can malfunction, even when the stakes are highest. Schuck leaves no stone unturned in this sophisticated and compelling account of why so often, in the realm of domestic policies, the government falters. This is the most systematic and comprehensive treatment of the subject I have ever read."—Pietro S. Nivola, Brookings Institution

"This masterful book offers a 'militantly moderate' argument about why federal domestic policies fail and what incremental steps might reduce, reverse, or prevent the worst failures. This book is a winner."—John J. DiIulio, University of Pennsylvania

"This is an extraordinarily interesting book that has the potential to be unusually influential. It avoids the pitfalls of ideological rigidity, covers an amazing array of government programs, relies on extensive empirical evidence, and provides rich analysis. The book's range and detail allow it to look at problems that are endemic to government policymaking."—R. Shep Melnick, Boston College

Editorial Reviews

Anyone who wants clear insight into government's modern wayward momentum, and its toll on society, should hear Peter Schuck. . . . His recommendations for change are refreshing.

Colorado Springs Gazette

This lively and authoritative account of government failure deserves to be read by advocates of all political persuasions. . . . This admirable work offers compelling evidence that government might do far better by doing far less.—-Gene Epstein, Barron's


Peter Schuck's new book Why Government Fails So Often provides a thoughtful if pessimistic analysis.—-Laura Tyson, Project Syndicate


Peter Schuck's Why Government Fails So Often is one of the most important books of the year and may be one of the most important books of the decade. Although I have seen this prolific author's name over the years, I had never read any of his work. My loss. Fortunately, I have read every page—including endnotes—of his latest book, and it is a tour de force.—-David R. Henderson, Regulation


[Why Government Fails So Often] is a timely book in light of the steep declines in the public's regards for government, a Congress that is increasingly hostile to federal programs, and a civil service whose morale keeps sinking lower with every survey. Schuck's analysis helps explain why the government is so reviled and thus helps us think about remedial steps and the kinds of policies that should be avoided in the future.—-Timothy B. Clark, Government Executive


Very highly recommended for academic and community library Political Science collections, Why Government Fails So Often: And How It Can Do Better is an impressive work of meticulous scholarship that is so well written and presented that it is equally accessible for political science students and non-specialist general readers with an interest in understanding the mechanics, development, and implementation issues concerning governmental policies on the federal level.—-Jack Mason, Midwest Book Review


[S]ubstantive, and important. . . . [R]ealizing exactly where we are is the first step towards moving to a better state of affairs. This volume sets us squarely down that path.—-Matt E. Ryan, Public Choice


Schuck's important book reminds us about the allure of expert judgments and the need for public discourse at each step along the traverse of policy formulation and implementation.—-David M. Levy and Sandra J. Peart, Journal of Economic Literature


"For Peter Schuck, 'government failure' is neither a political creed nor a reactionary slogan. It is an empirical fact that demands explanation and response. His book shows that, at the federal level, policy failure is pervasive, nonpartisan, and firmly rooted in our political culture and inherent features of government organization. Schuck has some excellent suggestions for improvement, but his great contribution is in his analysis. Why Government Fails So Often defines the central problem of modern politics and illuminates it with a range and sophistication it has never received before."—Christopher DeMuth, Hudson Institute


"The botched rollout of the Affordable Care Act website reminded Americans of how badly the machinery of government can malfunction, even when the stakes are highest. Schuck leaves no stone unturned in this sophisticated and compelling account of why so often, in the realm of domestic policies, the government falters. This is the most systematic and comprehensive treatment of the subject I have ever read."—Pietro S. Nivola, Brookings Institution


"This masterful book offers a 'militantly moderate' argument about why federal domestic policies fail and what incremental steps might reduce, reverse, or prevent the worst failures. This book is a winner."—John J. DiIulio, University of Pennsylvania


"This is an extraordinarily interesting book that has the potential to be unusually influential. It avoids the pitfalls of ideological rigidity, covers an amazing array of government programs, relies on extensive empirical evidence, and provides rich analysis. The book's range and detail allow it to look at problems that are endemic to government policymaking."—R. Shep Melnick, Boston College

From the Publisher

2014-02-11
Schuck (Emeritus, Yale Univ.; Foundations of Administrative Law, 2012, etc.) undertakes "to explain and perhaps to help solve" the myriad failures of government, in which a majority of citizens have little faith or confidence. The author's systematic and multifaceted analysis may come as a surprise to those who accept the quick answers provided by references to "political gridlock" or the "division of power." Schuck insists that foisting blame on government often reflects a failure by citizens to acknowledge their own roles. "The public views the federal government as a chronically clumsy, ineffectual, bloated giant that cannot be counted upon to do the right thing, much less do it well." Achieving political support to establish policies, however, will not be sufficient to make them work. Schuck delves deep into the relations among the different elements, and he points out the inability to repeal what he considers outdated, even wasteful legislation—e.g., the Merchant Marine Act of 1920 (aka, Jones Act, regulating shipping between American ports), the World War II tax subsidy to employer health insurance contributions and formula-based federal assistance to school districts. The author also dissects the widespread mismanagement of programs and duplications of effort, and he shows how the federal government has grown fivefold since the 1960s, with an attendant growth at the state and local levels. Schuck recognizes the conflicts that arise from the division of powers, but he emphasizes overlaps between the branches and the effects each has on the others. The author presents and considers a wide variety of solutions, including transformation in the political party system and constitutional-level reforms. Ultimately, he writes, "I have shown that [the] relationship between government's ambition and its failure is grounded in an inescapable, structural condition: policy makers' meager tools and limited understanding of the opaque, complex social world that they aim to manipulate." A substantial analysis of the causes and failures of government functioning.

Kirkus Reviews