The powers of problem definition: The case of government paperwork

Problem definition is a package of ideas that includes, at least implicitly, an account of the causes and consequences of undesirable circumstances and a theory about how to improve them. As such, it serves as the overture to policymaking, as an integral part of the process of policymaking, and as a policy outcome. In each of these roles it seems to exert influence on government action. Distinguishing among the roles clarifies the nature of that influence. A case study examines the transition from one problem definition to another in the domain of information collection by the federal government. The rise of the Paperwork Reduction definition illustrates the variety of ways in which problem definition has powerful consequences.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/45448/1/11077_2004_Article_BF00141381.pd

Competition Policy Trends and Economic Growth: Cross‐National Empirical Evidence

Abstract Motivated by the general lack of empirical scholarship concerning the cross‐national environment for competition policy, I present measures here of the overall resources dedicated to competition policy and the merger policy work‐load for thirty‐two antitrust jurisdictions over the 1992–2007 period. The data allow a number of perceived trends in competition policy over the last two decades to be analysed, and allow the generation of some factual insights concerning these trends: e.g. the budgetary commitment to competition policy in the cross‐national environment for antitrust has substantially increased over this period; budgetary increases appear to be commensurate with increased antitrust workloads, and yet, the role of economics does not appear to have substantially increased relative to the role of law. Moreover, I am also able to provide some evidence that budgetary commitments to antitrust institutions yield economic benefits in terms of improved economic growth: i.e. higher budgetary commitments to competition policy are associated with higher levels per‐capita GDP growth.Growth, Antitrust, Competition Policy, Trends, L40, K21, O40, C23,