SEPARATING ECONOMIC FROM POLITICAL INFLUENCES ON GOVERNMENT DECISIONS

The public interest theory is a poor predictor of government decisions relative to interest group theories, but a sophisticated public inter est theory is a more serious alternative to the former. Testing the so phisticated theory's predictions is problematic, however, when public interest is coincident with an interest group's interests. A four-step method is developed that disentangles public interest and interest gr oup interests by separating economic from political incentives. Applyi ng the method to the National Forest Service decisions about wildernes s designations indicates whether interest groups were successful in in fluencing allocation decisions and whether allocation decisions were i n the public interest. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V.