James M. Ferris

Social Capital and Philanthropy: An Analysis of the Impact of Social Capital on Individual Giving and Volunteering:

This article examines the impact of social capital on philanthropy. Based on extensive information on individuals’ embeddedness in various dimensions of social capital gathered in the Social Capital Community Benchmark Survey, two measures of social capital are extracted from the data via factor analysis. One relates to individuals’ associational networks; the second relates to their trust in others and in their community. These measures are then incorporated into models of religious giving, secular giving, and volunteering. The estimates confirm the importance of social capital in explaining the generosity of individuals. When social capital is included in giving equations, the direct influences of human capital (education) and religiosity fall, raising the question of whether previous understanding of their importance as determinants of giving and volunteering was overstated or, alternatively, whether the extent to which religion and education foster personal philanthropy by fostering associational networks and norms of trust and cooperation has been under-appreciated.

CONTRACTING OUT: FOR WHAT? WITH WHOM?

This paper develops a two-stage model of the decision to contract out. The first stage is the choice of whether to produce publicly provided services internally, externally, or to reduce costs as well as potential cost savings, which depend primarily on the nature of a particular service. The second stage in the contracting decision is the choice of sector with which to contract--other governments, private firms, or nonprofit organizations. Sector choice is primarily influenced by the nature of the service and the availability of suppliers in the different sectors. The model is used to analyze the current contracting patterns of 1,780 cities and counties from across the United States.

The Decision to Contract out: An Empirical Analysis

This article examines the determinants of contracting out among cities in the United States. A precondition to contracting out is the expected realization of the cost savings from external production as a result of scale economies and/or increased competition in the supply of public services. Yet, whether or not a city chooses external production depends on the fiscal pressures within the city and the political impediments. This model of the decision to contract out is examined using a sample of 433 cities. The percentage of publicly provided services that are externally produced is found to increase with (1) greater cost savings, (2) more stringent fiscal conditions, and (3) less powerful public service constituency groups.

The Role of the Nonprofit Sector in a Self-Governing Society: A View from the United States

This article explores the role of private, nonprofit organizations in a self-governing society. A framework identifying the diverse theories that explain the various types of nonprofit organizations observed in contemporary American society is sketched. This provides a fuller understanding of the varied and complex ways that nonprofit organizations contribute to the institutions of governance.

Demands for public spending: An attitudinal approach

This paper develops a conceptual model of public spending demands applicable to attitudinal data on public spending demands and demonstrates its usefulness by estimating qualitative demand equations for six public spending categories: education, welfare, housing, health, highways, and defense. The estimation, based on a data set constructed by merging the 1973 Survey of Consumer Attitudes and Behavior with relevant government data, reveals that tax-prices, private benefit measures and socio-demographic characteristics are instrumental in explaining differences in the public spending demands among individuals.

School-Based Decision Making: A Principal-Agent Perspective.

A principal-agent framework is used to examine the potential gains to educational performance and the potential threats to public accountability that school-based decision-making proposals pose. Options for minimizing problems arising from divergent objectives and information asymmetry, such as incentive-based contracts, limited school discretion, and school councils, are examined. The analysis underscores the need to tailor the design of decentralized decision making to the sources of poor educational performance and potential threats to school opportunism.

Structural Changes in the Hospital Industry, Charity Care, and the Nonprofit Role in Health Care

In an effort to understand the impact of cost-containment public policies on the relative roles of the sectors, the authors examine changes in the California hospital industry during the 1980s and associated changes in the provision of charity care. Industry structure and the relative strength of the sectors change as a result of industry entry, industry exit, and conversions (ownership changes across sectors). In the face of cost-containment policies, the nonprofit sector has been the most stable, with fewer exits than the for-profit sector and fewer conversions “out” than the public sector. This stability suggests that nonprofit hospitals are more likely to continue providing services as profit margins shrink. In addition, an analysis of the charity care behavior of converters suggests a stronger relationship between ownership and charity behavior than indicated by simple comparisons of the mean levels of provision, with committed nonprofits providing more charity care than for-profit hospitals.

A contractual framework for new public management theory

Abstract This paper evaluates the potential for institutional economics to help us frame choices for the design of institutional arrangements aimed at improving public sector performance, and the lessons it offers for the development of a new public management theory. It defines the key elements of transaction cost and principal agency theory and their application to the public sector. Local government contracting, fiscal decentralization, and performance budgeting, applications that share problems resulting from divergent objectives, information costs associated with policy making and implementation, and risks to public sector accountability, are analyzed. This analysis demonstrates that institutional economics can illuminate how public management can effectively utilize private sector solutions by providing the theoretical underpinnings for government reform initiatives.

A contractual approach to higher education performance: with an application to Australia

In an effort to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of higher education, some governments have redefined their funding relationships with universities as contracts rather than grants in order to develop stronger incentives for university performance. This paper explores this approach, as adopted in Australia, within a principal agent framework. It examines the conditions necessary for success in achieving government objectives as well as preserving university autonomy.

Sources of Reputation among Public Administration and Public Affairs Programs

Various rankings describing the perceived reputation of public administration and public affairs programs have been published over the years, but to date no empirical efforts explaining these ratings have appeared. This paper examines measures of the quality of research and teaching that are conventionally regarded as indicators of program quality to see which if any are related to subjective assessments of program reputation. Using ordinary least squares regression, three models are estimated to explain the program ratings of samples of NASPAA representatives, university faculty, and public-sector practitioners. Independent program status and faculty research productivity were program characteristics positively and significantly related to reputation as perceived by NASPAA representatives and faculty. Offering a doctoral degree and awarding large numbers of MPA degrees were positively and significantly related to program reputation as perceived by practitioners. These differences in the perceived reputation of public administration and public affairs programs seem to reflect underlying differences in the way research and practice are viewed in these fields.