Principles of Public Policy Practice

by Ho, Lok-Sang; Ng, Yew-Kwang

• ISBN13: 9780792372295
• ISBN10: 0792372298
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2000-11-01
• Publisher: Kluwer Academic Pub

Summary

Principles of Public Policy Practice was written with policy makers, concerned citizens, and students of public policy in mind. Striving to avoid technical language, the author introduces a new paradigm that starts from the commonality of human nature and the assumption that public policy should be impartial. Rather than playing the interests of one group versus those of another, he argues convincingly that public policy should aim at enhancing the ex ante welfare for everyone if everyone did not know the position or the identity one would assume. Using this conceptual device of the representative individual, the analysis readily leads to policy implications that are both reasonable and concrete in diverse areas ranging from health care, crime and punishment to macroeconomic and financial market stability. The book concludes with a chapter summarizing the various principles of public policy practice that will meet the challenges of the new millennium. These principles, certainly of interest to academics in social sciences who are studying public policy, political economy, international financial systems, and capital markets, should appeal equally to practitioners, including public policy makers, consultants, advisers, administrators, and public service trade unions.

Author Biography

Professor Lok Sang Ho is Director of the Center for Public Policy Studies and Professor of Economics, Lingnan University.

Table of Contents

Foreword	ix
Preface	xv
Acknowledgments	xvii
Introduction	1	(6)
Part 1 The Theory of Public Policy Design	7	(50)
What Makes Good Public Policy	9	(10)
Human Nature and Public Policy	19	(18)
Institutional Foundations for a Just Society	37	(20)
Part 2 Microeconomic Risk Management	57	(42)
Health Care Delivery and Financing: In Search of an Ideal Model	59	(12)
Legal Aid and Justice	71	(6)
Bank Deposit Insurance	77	(10)
Towards an Optimal Public Pension Scheme	87	(12)
Part 3 Macroeconomic Risk Management	99	(34)
The Risks of Monetary Crises: Inflation	101	(8)
The Risks of Monetary Crises: Currency Crises and Interest Rate Gyrations	109	(8)
Savings Instruments, Bubbles, and Financial Crises	117	(12)
Transparency	129	(4)
Part 4 Resource Allocation and Redistribution	133	(38)
Optimal Size of the Government	135	(8)
Education Policy	143	(10)
Housing (with a Digression on Transportation Pricing)	153	(10)
Social Safety Net and Redistribution	163	(8)
Part 5 Public Policy and Economic Ecology	171	(28)
Economic Ecology: The Case of the Great Depression of the Nineteen Thirties	173	(10)
Economic Ecology: The Case of Hong Kong	183	(16)
Epilogue	199	(12)
Public Policy in the New Millennium	201	(10)
References	211	(8)
Index	219