Overview

"When should government intervene in market activity and when is it best to let market forces take their natural course? How does the existing empirical evidence about government performance guide our answers to these questions? In this clear, concise book, Clifford Winston offers his innovative analysis —shaped by thirty years of evidence —to assess the efficacy of government interventions. Markets fail when it is possible to make one person better off without making someone else worse off, thus indicating inefficiency. Governments fail when an intervention is unwarranted because markets are performing well or when the intervention fails to correct a market problem efficiently. Winston concludes from existing research that the cost of government failure may actually be considerably greater than the cost of market failure: ""My search of the evidence is not limited to policy failures. I will report success stories, but few of them emerged from my search."" The prevalence of market failure is due to a lack of conviction in favor of markets, the inflexibility of intervening government agencies, and political forces that enable certain interest groups to benefit at the expense of society as a whole. Winston suggests that government policy can be improved by making greater use of market-oriented solutions that have already produced benefits in certain situations."

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Reviews

I recommend Clifford Winston's new book. - Newmark's Door blog, 10/29/2006 This is an important book. - Parkway Blog, 10/28/2006 Government Failure versus Market Failure is a remarkable little book. In it, Clifford Winston aggregates the lessons of dozens of scholarly empirical literatures on the efficiency of regulation, yet reaches an easy-to-summarize conclusion: regulation fails the cost-benefit test, with the exception of regulations against glaring externalities. - Bryan Caplan, Constitutional Political Economy An extremely valuable work that will reward careful readers. Communications policymakers should heed their lessons...Some twelve years after the Telecommunications Act of 1996, telecommunications policy is marked by extensive regulation... Government Failure versus Market Failure offers important lessons for how such reform should be implemented. Those charged with drafting and implementing it would do well to consult this volume. - Federal Communication Law Journal For those in government who are willing to listen, Government Failure versus Market Failure explains why much of what is being done for the public weal does not work well and, in some instances, does harm. For those in academia who are looking for a way to spice up their policy, government, and public administration courses, Government Failure versus Market Failure likely would prove to be an excellent vehicle for sparking spirited classroom debates. - Kevin R. Kosar, Public Administration Review

I recommend Clifford Winston's new book. -- Newmark's Door blog, 10/29/2006 This is an important book. -- Parkway Blog, 10/28/2006 Government Failure versus Market Failure is a remarkable little book. In it, Clifford Winston aggregates the lessons of dozens of scholarly empirical literatures on the efficiency of regulation, yet reaches an easy-to-summarize conclusion: regulation fails the cost-benefit test, with the exception of regulations against glaring externalities. --Bryan Caplan, Constitutional Political Economy An extremely valuable work that will reward careful readers. Communications policymakers should heed their lessons...Some twelve years after the Telecommunications Act of 1996, telecommunications policy is marked by extensive regulation... Government Failure versus Market Failure offers important lessons for how such reform should be implemented. Those charged with drafting and implementing it would do well to consult this volume. -- Federal Communication Law Journal For those in government who are willing to listen, Government Failure versus Market Failure explains why much of what is being done for the public weal does not work well and, in some instances, does harm. For those in academia who are looking for a way to spice up their policy, government, and public administration courses, Government Failure versus Market Failure likely would prove to be an excellent vehicle for sparking spirited classroom debates. --Kevin R. Kosar, Public Administration Review

"""Can government policies be made more effective? In Government Failure versus Market Failure, Clifford Winston provides a comprehensive analysis of a substantial range of government programs that could deliver more benefits at no greater cost if they were grounded in fundamental economic principles. Winston's superbly crafted critique cuts a broad swath through the entire range of Federal programs, with particular emphasis on how transportation policies and regulatory efforts should be overhauled. This should be required reading for all students and practitioners in the domestic policy field."" --W. Kip Viscusi, Vanderbilt University ""I recommend Clifford Winston's new book."" -- Newmark's Door blog, 10/29/2006 ""This is an important book."" -- Parkway Blog, 10/28/2006 ""This authoritative and readable monograph provides much-needed balance in the implicit debate between those who hold that the public interest requires extensive government economic intervention and the position that free markets automatically solve all problems. Legislators and economists have focused on needs for intervention, but Winston shows that it sometimes does more harm than good, and its favored methods can be fonts of inefficiency."" --William J. Baumol, Berkley Center for Entrepreneurial Studies, NYU "" Government Failure versus Market Failure is a remarkable little book. In it, Clifford Winston aggregates the lessons of dozens of scholarly empirical literatures on the efficiency of regulation, yet reaches an easy-to-summarize conclusion: regulation fails the cost-benefit test, with the exception of regulations against glaring externalities."" --Bryan Caplan, Constitutional Political Economy ""An extremely valuable work that will reward careful readers. Communications policymakers should heed their lessons...Some twelve years after the Telecommunications Act of 1996, telecommunications policy is marked by extensive regulation... Government Failure versus Market Failure offers important lessons for how such reform should be implemented. Those charged with drafting and implementing it would do well to consult this volume."" -- Federal Communication Law Journal ""For those in government who are willing to listen, Government Failure versus Market Failure explains why much of what is being done for the public weal does not work well and, in some instances, does harm. For those in academia who are looking for a way to spice up their policy, government, and public administration courses, Government Failure versus Market Failure likely would prove to be an excellent vehicle for sparking spirited classroom debates."" --Kevin R. Kosar, Public Administration Review"

Author Information

Clifford Winston is a senior fellow in Economic Studies at the Brookings Institution. Among his previous books are Deregulation of Network Industries: What's Next? coedited with Sam Peltzman (AEI-Brookings, 2000), and Alternate Route: Toward Efficient Urban Transportation, cowritten with Chad Shirley (Brookings, 1998).

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