“Non-Market Failure” Revisited: The Anatomy and Physiology of Government Deficiencies

Abstract

In 1977, J. K. Galbraith presented a television series entitled “The Age of Uncertainty”. Two years later, Milton Friedman followed with a television series entitled “Free to Choose”, intended as a rebuttal to the Galbraith series although, as in some election campaigns, the adversary was not mentioned explicitly^l.

I am indebted for comments on an earlier draft to participants in the symposium, especially Professor Hanusch, and Professors Kurt Schmidt and Alan Peacock. I have also benefitted greatly from comments on the earlier draft received from Arthur Alexander, Frank Camm, Fred Hoffman, Joseph Newhouse, Charles Phelps, Robert Solow and Peter Stan.

This paper is an extension of “A Theory of Non-Market Failure: Framework for Implementation Analysis”, Journal of Law and Economics, April 1979. For a more detailed discussion of some points dealt with here in a summary fashion, the reader is referred to the earlier paper.