Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gxg78 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T07:50:53.636Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Private Production of Public Goods: Organizational Maintenance, Managers' Objectives, and Collective Goals

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 August 2014

Robert C. Lowry
Robert C. Lowry*
Affiliation:
Michigan State University
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

I reformulate Mancur Olson's by-product theory of collective action as a theory of resource allocation by interest group managers. I then test alternative hypotheses about managers' objectives drawn from exchange theory and commitment theory. Financial data for 16 environmental citizen groups show that the production of public goods is subsidized by other activities, and revenues from member dues are not affected by spending on public goods. Spending on selective incentives and information generates revenues but also may contribute to the pursuit of collective goals. Estimated marginal revenues from fund-raising and selective incentives show that environmental citizen group managers are not preoccupied with maximizing revenues. Rather, they seek to maximize either spending on public goods or net resources available for influencing public policy and the environment, subject to a budget constraint.

Type
Articles
Information
American Political Science Review , Volume 91 , Issue 2 , June 1997 , pp. 308 - 323
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 1997

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bosso, Christopher J. 1995. “The Color of Money: Environmental Groups and the Pathologies of Fund Raising.” In Interest Group Politics, ed. Cigler, A. J. and Loomis, B. A.. 4th ed. Washington, DC: CQ Press.Google Scholar
Bosso, Christopher J. 1997. “Seizing Back the Day: The Challenge to Environmental Activism in the 1990s.” In Environmental Policy in the 1990s, ed. Vig, N. J. and Kraft, M. E.. 3rd ed. Washington, DC: CQ Press.Google Scholar
Chiang, Alpha C. 1984. Fundamental Methods of Mathematical Economics. 3rd ed. New York: McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
Cigler, Allan J., and Hansen, John Mark. 1983. “Group Formation through Protest: The American Agricultural Movement.” In Interest Group Politics, ed. Cigler, A. J. and Loomis, B. A.. Washington, DC: CQ Press.Google Scholar
Davis, James Allan. 1993. General Social Surveys, 1972–1993: Cumulative Codebook. Chicago: National Opinion Research Center.Google Scholar
Davis, James A., and Smith, Tom W.. 1994. “General Social Surveys, 1972–1994” [Cumulative File] [Computer file]. Chicago, IL: National Opinion Research Center [producer], 1994. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 1995.Google Scholar
Friedrich, Robert J. 1982. “In Defense of Multiplicative Terms in Multiple Regression Equations.” American Journal of Political Science 26(11):797–833.Google Scholar
Hansen, John Mark. 1985. “The Political Economy of Group Membership.” American Political Science Review 79(03):79–96.Google Scholar
Hildreth, Anne. 1994. “The Importance of Purposes in ‘Purposive’ Groups: Incentives and Participation in the Sanctuary Movement.” American Journal of Political Science 38(05):447–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hirschman, Albert O. 1970. Exit, Voice, and Loyalty: Responses to Decline in Firms, Organizations, and States. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Hopkins, Bruce R. 1993. A Legal Guide to Starting and Managing a Nonprofit Organization. 2d ed. New York: John Wiley.Google Scholar
James, Estelle. 1983. “How Nonprofits Grow: A Model.” Journal of Policy Analysis and Management 2(Spring):350–65.Google Scholar
Johnson, Paul E. 1988. “On the Theory of Political Competition: Comparative Statics from a General Allocative Perspective.” Public Choice 58(09):217–36.Google Scholar
Johnson, Paul E. 1995. “How Environmental Groups Recruit Members: Does the Logic Still Hold Up?” Presented at the annual meeting of the Midwest Political Science Association, Chicago, IL.Google Scholar
King, David C., and Walker, Jack L.. 1992. “The Provision of Benefits by Interest Groups in the United States.” Journal of Politics 54(05):394–426.Google Scholar
Knoke, David. 1990. Organizing for Collective Action: The Political Economies of Associations. Hawthorne, NY: A. de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Lowry, Robert C. 1993. “The Political Economy of Environmental Citizen Groups.” Ph.D. diss., Harvard University.Google Scholar
McCloskey, Michael. 1992. “Twenty Years of Change in the Environmental Movement: An Insider's View.” In American Environmentalism: The American Environmental movement, 1970–1990, ed. Dunlap, R. E. and Mertig, A. G.. Washington, DC: Taylor and Francis.Google Scholar
Mitchell, Robert C. 1979. “National Environmental Lobbies and the Apparent Illogic of Collective Action.” In Collective Decision Making: Applications from Public Choice Theory, ed. Russell, C. S.. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
Moe, Terry M. 1980. The Organization of Interests: Incentives and the Internal Dynamics of Political Interest Groups. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Moe, Terry M. 1981. “Toward a Broader View of Interest Groups.” Journal of Politics 43(05):531–43.Google Scholar
Niskanen, William. 1971. Bureaucracy and Representative Government. New York: Aldine-Atherton.Google Scholar
Oliver, Pamela E., and Marwell, Gerald. 1992. “Mobilizing Technologies for Collective Action.” In Frontiers in Social Movement Theory, ed. Morris, A. D. and Mueller, C. M.. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Olson, Mancur. [1965] 1971. The Logic of Collective Action: Public Goods and the Theory of Groups. Reprint. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Posnett, John, and Sandler, Todd. 1989. “Demand for Charity Donations in Private Non-Profit Markets: The Case of the U.K.” Journal of Public Economics 40(11):187–200.Google Scholar
Richer, Jerrell. 1995. “Green Giving: An Analysis of Contributions to Major U.S. Environmental Groups.” Discussion Paper No. 95-29. Washington, DC: Resources for the Future.Google Scholar
Rose-Ackerman, Susan. 1987. “Ideals vs. Dollars: Charity Managers and Government Grants.” Journal of Political Economy 95(08):810–23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rothenberg, Lawrence S. 1988. “Organizational Maintenance and the Retention Decision in Groups.” American Political Science Review 82(12):1129–52.Google Scholar
Rothenberg, Lawrence S. 1989. “Putting the Puzzle Together: Why People Join Public Interest Groups.” Public Choice 60(March): 241–57.Google Scholar
Rothenberg, Lawrence S. 1991. “Agenda Setting at Common Cause.” In Interest Group Politics, ed. Cigler, A. J. and Loomis, B. A.. 3d ed. Washington, DC: CQ Press.Google Scholar
Rothenberg, Lawrence S. 1992. Linking Citizens to Government: Interest Group Politics at Common Cause. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Sabatier, Paul A. 1992. “Interest Group Membership and Organization: Multiple Theories.” In The Politics of Interests: Interest Groups Transformed, ed. Petracca, M. P.. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.Google Scholar
Sabatier, Paul A., Loomis, John, and McCarthy, Catherine. 1995. “Hierarchical Controls, Professional Norms, Local Constituencies, and Budget Maximization: An Analysis of U.S. Forest Service Planning Decisions.” American Journal of Political Science 39(02):204–42.Google Scholar
Sabatier, Paul A., and McLaughlin, Susan M.. 1990. “Belief Congruence Between Interest-Group Leaders and Members: An Empirical Analysis of Three Theories and a Suggested Synthesis.” Journal of Politics 52(08)914–35.Google Scholar
Salisbury, Robert. 1969. “An Exchange Theory of Interest Groups.” Midwest Journal of Political Science 13(02):1–32.Google Scholar
Sierra Club. 1994a. Sierra Club Financial Report. San Francisco: Sierra Club.Google Scholar
Sierra Club. 1994b. “Sierra Club Outings.” Sierra 79(07/08): 13–24.Google Scholar
Steinberg, Richard. 1986. “The Revealed Objective Functions of Nonprofit Firms.” Rand Journal of Economics 17(Winter):508–26.Google Scholar
Stimson, James A. 1985. “Regression in Space and Time: A Statistical Essay.” American Journal of Political Science 29(11): 914–47.Google Scholar
Tullock, Gordon. 1966. “Information Without Profit.” Papers on Non-Market Decision Making 1:141–60.Google Scholar
Vig, Norman J. 1997. “Presidential Leadership and the Environment: From Reagan to Clinton.” In Environmental Policy in the 1990s, ed. Vig, N. J. and Kraft, M. E.. 3d ed. Washington, DC: CQ Press.Google Scholar
Walker, Jack L. Jr. 1983. “The Origins and Maintenance of Interest Groups in America.” American Political Science Review. 77(06): 390–406.Google Scholar
Walker, Jack L. Jr. 1991. Mobilizing Interests in America: Patrons, Professions and Social Movements. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.Google Scholar
Submit a response

Comments

No Comments have been published for this article.