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Several governments in Canada have made commitments to adopting evidence-based policy development. Several obstacles to the adoption of this approach have been identified in the policy literature. However, this literature has lacked an economic perspective. This is unfortunate, since economics has produced the most fully developed normative theory of government policy in the social sciences and humanities. The main elements of this theory are the theory of market failure and the theory of non-market failure, and the integration of those two elements in what Charles Wolf called implementation analysis. The Austrian economics tradition also offers the implications of what is often called Hayek’s knowledge problem and the lessons learned from the economic calculation debate as contributions to the understanding of the challenges facing the application of evidence-based policy. The authors propose adding four economic elements to the current model of evidence-based policy development: (1) providing sufficient and convincing evidence that a market failure has occurred; (2) providing sufficient and convincing evidence that a non-market failure is unlikely to occur or if it does occur the damages from the non-market failure will be less serious than the harm resulting from the market failure; (3) an appreciation of the distributed and conflicted character of social knowledge; and (4) the technical challenges involved in constructing a social preference order. The authors illustrate the application of the economic approach to evidence-based policy with an example from rural land use policy in Ontario.

Despite being a global public–private partnerships (PPPs) leader, India faces a vast PPP divide at a sub-national level, wherein a few states receive the majority of PPP projects, whereas other states face severe issues in attracting PPP investments. This necessitates the identification of factors that make some states attractive to PPP investors. The purpose of this study is to construct a “PPP readiness index” at the Indian state-level, which aims to assess the readiness of states for the diffusion of PPPs.

Using a quantitative method on secondary data, the study scores 17 Indian states on dimensions such as experience with PPPs, physical infrastructure, financial sector development, market conditions, institutional quality and political stability and fiscal constraints for each of the years during 2009–2018. Principal component analysis is used for assigning weights to the dimensions, thereby arriving at the composite index.

Results highlight that Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra offer the most favorable environment for PPPs to flourish. In contrast, Jharkhand and Bihar are laggards because they score the least and have limited PPP experience.

The index will assist the private sector in conducting a comparative analysis between state-specific PPP arrangements, thereby enabling them to make informed decisions prior to forging PPP arrangements. Further, the index will help the state governments in improving their PPP readiness by following the policies of the leading states.

Improvement in PPP readiness of the states will enable higher PPP investments in infrastructure, thereby reducing infrastructure deficits. This, in turn, will lead to economic growth, development and an improvement in the quality of life.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that comprehensively analyzes the PPP readiness at a sub-national level in India.

The purpose of this paper is to show that the market-internalization framework can be applied to non-economic institutions because society’s non-market sub-systems – political, social and cultural – are subject to failures just like economic markets, and firms can contribute to their repair or replacement by selectively, strategically and responsibly internalizing the market and non-market arenas for these sub-systems’ functions.

Internalization theory is applied to a new area – that of societal failures.

Internalization theory can be applied to the joint failures of economic and non-economic institutions, and this helps explain the growing “political role” of multinational enterprises in economies in transition as well as the phenomenon of increasing multinational firm activity in underdeveloped economies.

The limits and implications of internalization are drawn in terms of theory development, legitimacy and managerial strategies.

This paper is the first to analyze the selective internalization of societal failures by the multinational enterprises. It extends internalization theory and examines the contested notion of “public goods”.

Charles Wolf′s theory of government failure ignores the possibility that government employees may commit themselves to pursue excellence in public service as an expression of their hope in the quests of their agencies. Communitarian thought explains the function of hope in human motivation and intimates how leaders may influence the hopes of their followers and why followers submit to this leadership. Effective leadership can be assigned a role in the execution of public policy which counters the pursuit of private interest in the public domain so that the problems identified by Wolf can be identified not as an inevitable consequence of government intervention but as a manifestation of “leadership failure”.

This paper studies the juridical rationale for mandatory training provision on Temporary Help Agencies as established in the Spanish Temporary Help Agencies Act, 1994 (Law 14/94). No positive relationship is found between the improvement in Temporary Help Agencies' added value levels and their investments in temps' training. In analyzing this specific provision of Spanish Labor Law we adopt a positive focus to explain its impact on the functioning of the temporary help industry. The application of institutional theory leads us to conclude that efficient use of this legal prescription is limited. The issue is relevant to understanding the economic outcomes of regulation from a law and economics perspective.

Aims to explore the possibility of developing a neoclassical theory of institutional failure, based on “transaction costs”. Critically assesses the role of institutions in General Equilibrium theory and concludes that, with the exception of the market (price mechanism), this is institution‐free. This is unsatisfactory, given the importance of the firm and the state, in particular, which have received wide attention recently in the theory of transaction costs. It is claimed that General Equilibrium theory can be given microfoundations based on transaction costs. This provides the possibility of a neo‐classical theory of institutional failure. It also has important implications on the nature and scope of economic theory in general and the plan versus markets debate in particular.

Aims to examine the issue of industrial strategy (IS), paying particular attention to the case of Britain. Sets out to assess the possibility and nature of an industrial strategy for Britain, in Europe, and within the global scene, taking into account the world we live in as we see it. Accordingly, the perspective is driven and shaped by a quest for a realistic, feasible and sustainable industrial strategy. In order to achieve these objectives, first examines the theoretical arguments behind much of British, and more generally, Western industrial policies. Following this, outlines and assesses British industrial policy post‐Second World War then compares and contrasts British industrial policy with that of Europe, the USA, Japan and the newly industrialized countries. Then examines recent developments in economics and management which may explain the “Far Eastern” miracle, and points to the possibility of a successful, narrowly self‐interested, IS for Europe and Britain, based on the lessons from (new) theory and international experience. To assess what is possible, develops a theoretical framework linking firms in their roles as consumers and/or electors. This hints at the possibilities and limits of feasible policies. All these ignore desirability which, in the author′s view, should be seen in terms of distributional considerations, themselves contributors to sustainability. Accordingly, discusses a desirable industrial strategy for Britain in Europe which accounts for distributional considerations, and goes on to examine its implications for the issue of North‐South convergence. Concludes by pointing to the limitations of the analysis and to directions for developments.

In the wake of public service liberalisation in many OECD countries, economic interventions into the purpose and implementation of social policies have gained a lot of interest in recent years. The prime aim of this paper is to describe the nature of these interventions. The paper examines the reasons for pursuing elusive efficiency objectives in the conduct of public policy, rationales for purchaser‐provider splits, evaluation of cost‐quality relationships, service costing and pricing, and the influence of “external” economic variables.

The paper breaks the analysis of public policy down to three layers of economic interventions: macroeconomics (allocative efficiency, intervention rationales and macroeconomic environment), mesoeconomics (economics of delivery in “social industries”) and microeconomics (agent behaviour, contracting, pricing and evaluation). Each level of economic intervention is illustrated with examples, mainly taken from Australian public policy and mainstream social economic research.

Some of the most critical questions in policy implementation (outsourcing, pricing, contracting and agency problems) can be traced back to economic reforms. Experiments with new modes of service delivery are driven by a changing economic context, yet the efficiency gains from these innovative approaches may come at the expense of service quality.

Changing macro‐, meso‐ and microeconomic variables profoundly alter the parameters of service delivery. Designers and managers of service delivery systems need to be aware of – and skilled in – the practical application of economic principles, concepts and methods.

Except for the health sector, there is a lack of consistent research on the interrelationships between the standard economics toolkit and the delivery of public services. Yet the two are profoundly intertwined. The paper helps distinguish these relationships by putting together elements of conceptual analysis and fieldwork.

This paper aims to investigate the extent to which locating primary industry subsidiaries in politically unstable countries impacts their survival. The authors argue that foreign multinational enterprises in less stable political environments can shape policies that are impactful on the costs of operating in primary industries and avoid compliance with more stringent policies at home.

Using a sample of 753 primary sector investments of Japanese multinational enterprises during the period 1986 to 2013, the authors conduct a parametric survival analysis of the relationship between political stability and subsidiary survival.

Political instability has a slight, curvilinear relationship with subsidiary survival, such that both high and low stability are associated with lower exit hazard, while moderate levels of stability increased exit hazard. This nonlinear relationship is stronger for efficiency-seeking subsidiaries, and weaker for market-seeking subsidiaries.

This research contributes to the debate around the pros and cons of globalization by examining the extent to which firms benefit by offshoring primary sector investments to avoid more costly legal requirements at home. The results suggest that this non-market strategy should be mitigated through appropriate policy measures and provides evidence that those policies already implemented are effective.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate urban tree forest utilisation and management through application of contingency valuation approach in Ogun State, Nigeria.

A total of 120 respondents residing in Abeokuta Metropolis were randomly sampled. Data collected were analysed using descriptive statistics, probit and Tobit regression analyses.

Results revealed that respondents demonstrated willingness to pay (WTP) monthly for management of urban trees. Larger percentage (94.0 per cent) of the respondents benefited from shade, 48.0 per cent benefited from reduction of pollution while 76.7 per cent benefited from prevention from harsh weather. Results of probit analysis revealed lower probability of WTP for urban tree management among older respondents ( p<0.1); while females respondents had a higher probability of payment for tree management ( p<0.05). In the same vein, younger respondents (p<0.05) as well as higher income earners ( p<0.01) exhibited more WTP for urban trees management.

The study concluded that trees were an invaluable environmental asset among urban households, while the households also demonstrated strong willingness to manage and sustain their uses.

Older respondents need to be further enlightened on sustainable management of urban trees for environmental stabilisation and provision of aesthetic benefits.

This paper introduces an innovative technique to the valuation of urban tree and brought to the fore, importance attached to trees as a non-market environmental commodity.