Policy Reform as Collective Action

28 Pages Posted: 15 Feb 2006

Date Written: December 1997

Abstract

A government desiring support for its policy reform program, without coercion, behaves as if it faces a political constraint. Citizen support depends on the estimate, by at least some minimum proportion of the population, that the program will succeed and the outcome will be in their individual self-interest. Government behavior has implications for the program, whose contents constitute the set of signals used by citizens to estimate the probability that the program will succeed. The government uses various devices to mobilize support for its program. An informed expert could design a program acceptable to both the government and the citizens.

JEL Classification: D72, D78, O23

Suggested Citation

Johnson, Omotunde, Policy Reform as Collective Action (December 1997). IMF Working Paper No. 97/163, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=883043

Omotunde Johnson (Contact Author)

affiliation not provided to SSRN

No Address Available