Principal-Agent problem: a theoretical view of administrative behaviour - Economicus

by, Dr. Ketrina Cabiri

Abstract

Politics consist of the shifting interplay of actors with different objectives and the primacy of one or another may depend on the particular situation and shifting constraints (Katzmann, 1986, 1988). In this vein, under circumstances of different objectives and motivations, the policy process becomes more complex with issues of public interest and capture of actors in the public sphere. Trying to analyze, as Levine and Forrence suggest, why we have some outcomes and not others, this paper tries to explain the behavior of decision makers, using theoretical concepts such control, political dominance, delegation of power, etc. This research focuses on the study of bureaucracy and decision making in the public sector in the light of principal agent theory theoretical prepositions.