Non-Market Controls, Power and Accountability

Abstract

A Morrisonian public corporation possesses an independent corporate personality, operates at a distance from government with a semblance of autonomy, and is accountable only to Parliament. Accountability is limited to matters on which government exerts influence. Scholars have embraced the model with enthusiasm. Hanson (1955) praised it as the most systematic attempt to define the structure of public enterprise in contemporary society. Hanson identifies three advantages in the model: it recognizes the inevitability of state participation in economic enterprises; it addresses the limitations governments face in performing intricate, entrepreneurial functions; and it seeks to bring about a ‘balance between the flexibility and autonomy enjoyed by private commercial enterprises and […] responsibility to the public’ (Hanson 1955: 20). Garner has referred to Morrisonian public corporation as a ‘pathway towards a new form of government management’ (Garner 1970: 3). These two professors have contributed much towards popularizing the Morrisonian model of public enterprise, as has Seidman, who referred to it as a catalytic agent for governmental budget, accounting and auditing reforms (Seidman 1955: 48).