Identification of the Missouri public's perception of natural resource problems
Authors:   , Greenhalgh Richard 
Published: May 2024

"The question of how resources are allocated is basic to the type of economic system a country chooses. In our mixed economy we have chosen to rely on market allocation while substituting other approaches only in cases of explicit market failure. In such cases, the general approach has been that of government provision of public goods and services. Theoretically, the avenue for initiating or controlling the quantity and quality of public goods and services has been through the political process. No explicit market exists for allocating resources when collective action is needed. The consumer of publicly produced goods neither directly bids for a given supply nor determines what quantity he is willing to purchase at some price. Government agencies generally determine the quantity and quality of public goods and services to be supplied. This determination is based on an array of factors including agencies' budgets and Executive or Legislative Branch preferences. The public's preferences can be conveyed by politicians to the Executive Branch or they can be interpreted independently by department heads or program administrators in the Executive Branch. Planning in the public sector is a counterpart to the market place in the private sector. In the planning process, the felt need on the part of the public for collective provision of public goods and services should be appraised, and efficient allocation of resources toward production of the desired public good or service should be proposed. In this context, the planning process serves as the mechanism which determines what production possibilities are considered and how resources are combined in production. The final decision of whether or not to produce is made in the political arena by allocating or failing to allocate funds to implement a proposal. Actions by special-interest groups concerning the Trans-Alaskan pipeline, Hell's Canyon reservoir on the Snake River, Florida barge canal, and clear cutting on National Forest lands suggest that some natural resource use and development decisions evolving from the planning process may not be in the public's best interest. In the State of Missouri several reservoirs planned and funded for initial construction are being contested, giving rise to the same question. A review of economic literature on natural resource planning reveals considerable criticism of the planning process. Continued legal action against development, even after construction begins, and professional criticism both point to an omission in the consideration of potential public goods and services. This is not to suggest that past economic research is irrelevant but that the economic problems may be broader than what has been included in past economic models. Once it is recognized that "what" to consider for public production is not automatically guided by some "invisible hand" through the workings of the political process, then some form of corrective therapy is an appropriate economic endeavor. Just as "workable competition" has become a normative economic concept in the private sector, so could "workable consumer sovereignty" be developed as a normative concept in the public sector."--Introduction.