This book provides numerous examples that apply the modern theory of bureaucracy developed in Breton and Wintrobe (1982 and 1986) to the Nazi Holocaust. More specifically, the book argues, as do Breton and Wintrobe (1986), that the subordinates in the Nazi bureaucracy were not “following orders” as they claimed during the war crimes trials at Nuremberg and elsewhere, but were instead exhibiting an entrepreneurial spirit in competing with one another in order to find the most efficient way of exacting the Final Solution. This involved engaging in a process of exchange with their superiors, wherein the subordinates offered the kinds of informal services that are not codified in formal contracts. In doing so, they were competing for the rewards, or informal payments not codified in formal contracts, that were conferred by those at the top of the bureaucracy. These came in the form of rapid promotion, perquisites (pecuniary and in-kind), and other awards. The types of exchanges described above are based on “trust,” not formal institutions.
Public Choice Economics and the Salem Witchcraft Hysteria provides an economics perspective on the witchcraft episode, and adds to the growing body of work analyzing prominent historical events using the tools of economics.
This edited volume contains a collection of essays that reflect a broad area of economic education inquiry ranging from teaching assessment to the philosophy of the classroom. Written by economics scholars from across the nation, this volume presents recent discoveries in presentation, assessment, and other aspects of economic education at colleges and universities in the U.S. These articles represent but a sample of the growing commentary among academics on the importance of effective teaching and economic education scholarship.
Using theoretical and statistical models, along with several new sets of empirical results, this book examines the impact of legislative television on the political process in the United States. It examines the relationship between political-economic variables and the tendency to adopt/support live television in the U.S. Congress, the impact of television on the length of U.S. House and Senate sessions, the use of parliamentary procedures in the presence (absence) of television cameras, and the role that legislative television has played in improving incumbents' success rates in primary/general federal elections. Where possible, the economic costs to taxpayers of legislators' use of television cameras, in order to enhance their re-election prospects, are also considered.
Using theoretical and empirical approaches from the economics and political science disciplines, this book examines the social opportunity costs of American public policy towards national saving. The primary focus of the text is on the institutional arrangements of the U.S. Social Security system, as they relate to Americans' decisions to save and invest, and to interest groups' decisions to lobby Congress for political privileges. The book presents statistical evidence suggesting that the social opportunity costs of U.S. policy in this area are enormous. Lower bound estimates put the loss in private savings, due to savers' decisions to substitute Social Security for private retirement plans, at approximately $349 billion dollars annually. When the lobbying costs associated with efforts to redistribute the money in the Social Security Trust Fund are included, this figure rises by perhaps as much as $15 billion. The results and discussion in this work should serve as a useful addition to the policy debates in this area.
This book offers 17 richly unique and interesting essays covering many of the subjects that are currently being examined in academic journals of this genre. Divided into three sections -- research, pedagogy and information about the economic education profession -- this volume offers insights on current debates over economic literacy, standardised test performance, the impact of gender, class attendance and homework policies on course performance and classroom cheating. Also recognising interest in the use of literature, sports, and popular culture to enhance classroom presentation of economics, this volume offers a number of chapters dealing with the use of books, motion pictures, professional sports and television cartoons to capture students' interests in economics. In providing these essays, this book brings together several notable scholars in the field of economic education, including William B. Walstad of the University of Nebraska, associate editor of the Journal of Economic Education, G. Dirk Mateer of Pennsylvania State University, author of Economics in the Movies, and Kim Marie McGoldrick of the University of Richmond, member of the editorial boards of The American Economist, Journal of Economic Education and the Journal of Economics & Finance Education. Complete with a Foreword by Rand W. Ressler, co-author of the popular economics text "Economics: Private Markets and Public Choice", this volume brings the research and ideas of several of the leading scholars in economic education together in one place.
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This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. To ensure a quality reading experience, this work has been proofread and republished using a format that seamlessly blends the original graphical elements with text in an easy-to-read typeface. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
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