In the United States, the express purpose of regulation is, according to a 1993 executive order, to "protect or improve the health and safety of the public, the environment, or the well-being of the American people." However well intentioned, all human action carries with it the potential for secondary, sometimes negative, consequences. In the case of regulation, these consequences may cause harm-by exacerbating poverty, increasing opportunity inequality, raising prices, or reducing econom...

The complexity of governments today makes the accountability desired by citizens difficult to achieve. Written to address performance policies within state and national governments, Government Performance and Results: An Evaluation of GPRA’s First Decade summarizes lessons learned from a 10-year research project that evaluated performance reports produced by federal agencies under the Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA). The results of this project can help answe...

Originally published in 1994. The energy crisis of the 1970s provided an opportune climate for public sector entrepreneurship to develop. The authors present case studies from six innovative and diverse municipalities in Denmark, France, Germany, Sweden and the United States. The studies document problems these communities encountered while implementing new ideas in energy conservation and changes in energy supply and municipal planning. Each community was selected on the basis of its earl...