Answering the public choice challenge: A neoprogressive research agenda

A neoprogressive research agenda is developed to challenge public choice th eory's position as the new orthodoxy in both understanding and guiding poli cy choices about urban service delivery. Such a challenge requires more tha n accumulating negative empirical tests. Rather we must accept the new burd en of proof laid on proponents of progressive reform institutions by the th eories of nonmarket failure and quasimarkets, ideas that undermined the int ellectual pillars supporting progressive reform institutions and can only b e challenged by new ideas. Public choice theory itself, broadly considered, is proposed as a valid source of such new ideas. Three research programs, in part already underway, are outlined as essential building blocks in the research agenda, focusing, respectively, on blunting the rough edges of the theory of nonmarket failure, coordinating the empirical critiques of quasi markets in a new theory of quasimarkets failure, and developing the new ins titutionalism so that it can provide the basis for comparing the production outcomes of alternative urban institutions.