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BETWEEN FAIRNESS AND EFFICIENCY: TESTING WILSON’S THEORY OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 September 2022

Sophie Agulhon
Affiliation:
Sophie Agulhon: sophie.agulhon@univ-paris8.fr
Thomas Michael Mueller
Affiliation:
Thomas Michael Mueller: thomas.mueller@univ-paris8.fr.

Abstract

During his first presidential term, faced with antitrust law reform, Woodrow Wilson had to deal with the reconstitution of conflicting values. These were, on the one hand, the importance of efficiency, guaranteed by the role of experts capable of effectively managing public administration; and, on the other hand, the importance of public and democratic participation, and therefore respect for traditional democratic values. Wilson faced a theoretical impasse in defining concepts such as competition and fairness when developing antitrust laws and had to put his theory of administration to the test. He opted for a pragmatic approach, based on managerial ideas and integrating the figure of the manager, expert in know-how.

Type
Article
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the History of Economics Society

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Footnotes

The authors acknowledge this journal’s editorial and reviewing work, and LED (Paris 8 University) for funding.

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