Books in review

She is author of Equity and Gender,and Property Rights and Eminent Domainboth published by Transaction.     

The value of comparative analysis

Critical questions in both theory and practice can only be answered through comparative analysis whose value increases with the growing internationalization of public administration. Theoretically, it has long been assumed that public administration has to be a discipline reaching beyond one country and any specific culture, but the practical benefits derived from comparative analysis, such as more effetive policy making, better administrative arrangements and enhanced development prospects need also t o be stressed. Comparative bureaucratic corruption illustrates both the benefits and t h e difficult methodological problems encountered, in this case revealing why rich and stable polities can depend on legal–rational norms while poor and unstable polities a r e more susceptible t o systemic deviant conduct by public officials.     

Comparative public budgeting

The comparative study of public budgeting has been undertaken in a number of ways, including application of general theory, appraisal of budget innovations, construction of empirical models, case studies, and focus on specific issues or problems. Each of these methods has advantages and drawbacks, but lack of accepted methodology should not be a barrier to continued research, theorizing, and application in the highly practical endeavor of improving the handling of pub1ic finances through comparative analysis.