Public choice theory provides three main principles for the management of social housing: market structures should be competitive; organisations should be compelled to produce information on their efficiency and effectiveness; and large agencies should be disaggregated into smaller units. Social...

The relationship is analysed between size, local government structure and administrative overheads in English local authorities. Size and structure effects are tested while controlling for a range of other variables, including the relative prosperity of the local population and the diversity of...

This paper develops and tests a model of variations in local economic policies. The influence of unemployment, financial resources and party politics on economic development expenditures is estimated empirically in the London Boroughs. The statistical evidence indicates that the model provides a...

Conventional analyses of local government structure focus on the revolutionary changes that result from deliberate reorganisations. We propose a new perspective on structural change that emphasises the importance of evolutionary processes as well as radical reforms. Evolutionary changes in...

This paper assesses the impact of central policies on the autonomy of local authorities in Wales since 1979. Several problems in the measurement of central constraints are identified, including the distinction between aggregate and individual autonomy, the specification of central objectives and...

Risk was shifted from government to housing associations during the late 1980s producing a very different operating environment for associations based around competition. Critical in this has been an increased emphasis on financial management. The paper explores the impacts of these changes...

Inspection is an important and growing element of the regulation of public services. We develop a theoretical framework for the evaluation of inspection and illustrate the practical relevance of this framework with reference to the new Best Value inspectorate for UK local government. The...

Civic-republican theories of democracy assume that increased levels of civic engagement lead to good government and better public services. This paper tests this assumption by analysing the impact of civic culture on the rate of failure in English public services between 2002 and 2004. The...