Failures of the State: Theory and Policy

Abstract

The article deals with the evolution of approaches in modern economic theory to the problem of “failures of the state”. This approach, which has developed in opposition to concepts of “market failure”, can be seen as a search for a new strategy of political and economic analysis of mechanisms of resource allocation and of historical social institutions and their effect on the efficiency of economic processes. Special attention is paid to the problem of information retrieval as a starting point for the analysis of the economic functions of the public sector, to ways of funding state undertakings, to the impact of rent-seeking behavior, to the role of the political process, and to negative externalities such as lack of coordination and the presence of the state in the economy in general. An interdisciplinary approach to “failures of the state” takes into account the influence of legal norms and institutions on the nature of allocation of public resources, as illustrated by the examples from the modern Russian economy.

Keywords: failures of the state, public policy, public choice, allocational efficiency, information, privatization

JEL Classification: B20, D02, D60, K40, L30, P20