In this essay, we define the meaning and content of public value, show how government and business create public value, and briefly explain why their governance arrangements work the way they do. We deal first with business and then government. We conclude that government manages risks and that...

The problems caused by state and local revenue volatility are inherently challenging. The State of Oregon has an especially volatile revenue structure, which can cause all sorts of problems as the state moves through the business cycle. Nevertheless, we have concluded that these problems are...

We describe the evolution of Oregon’s one-off property tax system, which emphasizes stable growth in tax payments and inter-jurisdictional uniformity in tax rates. We contrast its outcomes in two sections of Portland, which had the best, most fairly administered property tax system in the...

There are several reasons for the obscurity of the organizational process model. Perhaps the most important is the widespread acceptance of the standard economic model, which holds that spending outcomes are determined by the supply of and the demand for publicly provided goods and services and...

Democracy in Chains is a heck of a read, but it is, at its core, fundamentally flawed. Its core is a confrontation with James Buchanan and the origins of public choice theory, which argues that public choice is a backlash to both the New Deal and the civil rights movement. The flaw reflects...

Based on the indirect arbitrage opportunities afforded citizens by tax-exempt debt issue, this article presents a model establishing equilibrium in the market for tax-exempt debt. The model yields two predictions. Increases in Federal income tax rates increase the spread between taxable and...

Government contracting is rife with miscommunication and misperception, sometimes unavoidably, and is often associated with secrecy, autarky, and opportunism. These qualities undermine trust, increase contracting costs, and reduce effective collaboration between business and government. In this...

Why should the GAO audit the Fed? Assigning the GAO to protect us against political favoritism looks a lot like asking the fox to guard the hen house. What we really want to know is whether or not the Federal Reserve's asset purchases, loans and guarantees make money for the taxpayer. We have...

A lot of people agree about what needs to be done to fix Oregon's state finances, the real question is how? The surprising answer is that there is a fairly simple, cheap solution. The first step is to take the sales tax off the table. The second step is to take very seriously the proposal put...

During recessions, the newspapers are filled with stories of the pain caused by state and local budget cuts: slashed mental health funding, reductions in school meals, further delays in long-overdue infrastructure maintenance and replacement, and new taxes. During booms, they are filled stories...