ABSTRACT
The experiment with government corporations has clearly been a hallmark of American public administration. Day in and day out, trains run safely; tolls are collected; and bonds are repaid for housing, economic development, and other public projects. Nonetheless, serious questions have been raised about whether government corporations actually accomplish things in the most sensible, accountable, competent, and responsible manner. For example, the Postal Service's apparent successes are overshadowed by the commonly voiced opinion that "mail service in the United States is getting slower, more expensive, and less reliable."! Likewise, seeds of doubt are cast about government corporations when the Washington Post reports that the Tennessee Valley Authority has developed one of the "worst-planned and worst-executed" nuclear power programs in the United States."2
