Abstract
This paper examines the bureaucrat's choice between devoting resources to economic rents (organizational slack) and maximizing the budget of the agency. A new model of bureaucracy is developed using utility rather than a demand function as its foundation. It is shown that increases in income alter the slack-budget constraint to favor organizational slack over budget-maximization. Modern federal bureaucracies in the U.S. are predicted to be slack-maximizing and X-inefficient.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Baumol, W.J. (1967). Macroeconomics of unbalanced growth: The anatomy of urban crisis.American Economic Review 57.3 (June): 415–426.
Baumol, W.J., Blackman, S. and Wolff, E.N. (1985). Unbalanced growth revisited: Asymptotic stagnancy and new evidence.American Economic Review 75.4 (September): 806–817.
Breton, A. and Wintrobe, R. (1975). The equilibrium size of a budget maximizing bureau: A note on Niskanen's theory of bureaucracy.Journal of Political Economy 83.1 (February): 195–207.
Cullis, J.G. and Jones, P.R. (1984). The economic theory of bureaucracy, X-inefficiency and Wagner's Law: A note.Public Finance 39(2): 191–201.
Cyert, R.M. and March, J.G. (1963).A behavioral theory of the firm. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Migue, J.L. and Belanger, G. (1974). Toward a general theory of managerial discretion.Public Choice 17 (Spring): 27–43.
Niskanen, W.A. (1971).Bureaucracy and representative government. Chicago: Aldine-Atherton.
Patinkin, D. (1963). Demand curves and consumer's surplus. In C. Christ et al.,Measurement in economics: Studies in mathematical economics and econometrics in honor of Yehuda Grunfeld, 83–112. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis. (1986).The national income and product accounts of the United States, 1929–82: Statistical tables. Washington, DC: USGPO.
U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis (1987).Survey of current business. Washington, DC: USGPO.
U.S. Office of Management and Budget. (1987).Budget of the United States government, FY 1988: Historical tables. Washington, DC: USGPO.
Williamson, O. (1964).The economics of discretionary behavior: Managerial objectives in a theory of the firm. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Wyckoff, P.G. Bureaucracy, inefficiency, and time. Public Choice 67, 169–179 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00714397
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00714397