Who, if anyone, controls the massive government bureaucracy responsible for the elaboration, implementation, and enforcement of laws and executive orders? Typical managerial techniques---screening, reward, and punishment---are hampered by the rules of the civil service system. All but the most senior bureaucrats are hired and promoted according a non-political examination and review system, and most are protected from punishment or termination by tenure. I argue that the executive can control the bureaucracy by creating competition for budget allocations within and between agencies, a process I call strategic budgeting. These incentives work under realistic assumptions: highly imperfect monitoring, bounded rationality of executives and bureaucrats, ideological motivations, and professional norms are all a part of the model. I test the predictions of my theory in the laboratory and in data from the American states, finding evidence to confirm that strategic budgeting is an effective strategy for bureaucratic management. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Political Science in partial
fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Degree Awarded: Summer Semester, 2008. / Date of Defense: June 25, 2008. / Quantal Response, Budgeting, Bureaucracy, Principal Agent / Includes bibliographical references. / William D. Berry, Professor Directing Dissertation; Tim Salmon, Outside Committee Member; John T. Scholz, Committee Member; Bumba Mukherjee, Committee Member; T.K. Ahn, Committee Member.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_168699 |
| Contributors | Esarey, Justin (authoraut), Berry, William D. (professor directing dissertation), Salmon, Tim (outside committee member), Scholz, John T. (committee member), Mukherjee, Bumba (committee member), Ahn, T.K. (committee member), Department of Political Science (degree granting department), Florida State University (degree granting institution) |
| Publisher | Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, text |
| Format | 1 online resource, computer, application/pdf |
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