Limiting the Role of Government

Abstract

The two previous chapters have shown that there is a considerable gap between my perception of the capabilities and competence of individuals and those of Oxley, who chooses to emphasise the limitation of individual decision making and, in consequence, the need for social decision making. The two chapters have also shown the differences which our respective disciplines can bring to this debate.1 I have tended to concentrate on the normative issues which underpin social policy and have thus judged policy in what could be broadly seen as moral terms. Oxley, however, has developed a critique of this position using the tools of economic theory and has developed a set of technical efficiency criteria with which to judge policy.