ARGY, Fred <br/><br/>
The liberal economic reforms of the last two decades  :  a review 

 - Oxford :  Blackwell Publishers Limited,  September 2001 
<br/><br/> In reviewing the liberal economic reforms of the last two decades, the peper makes a distinction between three groups of reforms. One involved the improvements in the administration of government funtions (managerialism, outsourcing and privatisation). Another involved the adoption of more direct or marked-based methods of policy intervention (such as budget subsidies, inventives, taxes and tranfers in lieu of regulation, protection and financial controls). These two groups of reforms were economic-driven: they sought to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of government. Although many mistakes in design and implementation were made, they largely achieved their intended objectives. With sensitive implementation, the reforms achieved a better balance between efficiency and equity than in most other countries. A third group of reforms embodied a new set of policy paradigms (such as downgrading of full-employment and unconditional need-based welfare realtive to ohter policy goals). they offered few efficiency or economical benefits and were mainly driven by idealogy