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Transparency: The Key to Better Governance? ‐ Edited by David Heald and Christopher Hood
Author(s) -
Skladzien Tom
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
economic record
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.365
H-Index - 42
eISSN - 1475-4932
pISSN - 0013-0249
DOI - 10.1111/j.1475-4932.2007.00441.x
Subject(s) - transparency (behavior) , citation , corporate governance , key (lock) , library science , political science , law , history , management , computer science , economics , computer security
© 2007 The Economic Society of Australia control of their destiny, throw off their materialist delusions, and embrace the simple life. This is an ongoing tension in the book. Does one use the insights of behavioural economics to educate people to make better decisions, or to demand that government policy exploit our cognitive biases (in our own best interests, of course)? Gittins oscillates between these two poles, eventually coming down bang in the middle. But if he had a consistent and clear position throughout, there would be no need for a ‘last word’ to state the 50/50 conclusion. The book is not spoiled by this. There is a wealth of information on recent trends in work, housing and demography, and some sensible recommendations for both public policy-makers and private individuals (unify public health spending in regional authorities, don’t pay HECS up front, get a low interest credit card with no frills if you don’t pay off your debt each month). Even the contradictions can be thought-provoking. In the end, though, I suspect that Gittins is preaching to the choir. Those who do not already share his beliefs are unlikely to be convinced by Gittinomics. They are probably working too much unpaid overtime to even read it.