Administrative states as moral hazards: four dimensions

Abstract

This article explores four fundamental dimensions of how administrative states present moral hazards that reach deeply into the distortion of governmental structures, institutions and processes. These dimensions are (1) the undermining of governmental structural integrity, (2) displacement of political and regime values, (3) the promotion of amoral administrative thought, and (4) bureaucratic dysfunction and ossification. Although these dimensions are neither exhaustive nor mutually exclusive, they are substantial and have been under appreciated and analyzed in public administration’s academic literature. The article concludes with five strategies for reducing such moral hazards. Although I illustrate with the United States, the moral hazards considered are not confined to it and are a feature of administrative states generally.