BECKETT, Julia <br/><br/>
The "government should run like a business" mantra 

 -  2000 
<br/><br/> The common phrase, government shold run like a usinss evokes powerful ideas: It is a mantra. This article considers the layers of connotation contained in this mantra, nothing first that comparisons between government and business is a classic and constant theme in public administration. in recentliterature, the theme and focus of business-government comparisons has shifted to modeling govenment after the market ideas of business. This article adds to this discusson by considering gormal constitutive factors present in three basic businessforms - the sole proprietor, the partnership, and the corporation. The article further asks whether any of these business forms provides  useful models for government. A fundamental concern is conceptualizing government within the context of America`s business mythology that echoes in the mantra, "government sould run lik a business."