The economics of career concerns, part II: Application to missions and accountability of government agencies

The paper uses a simple multitask career concern model in order to analyse the incentives of government agencies' officials. Incentives are impaired b y the agency pursuing multiple missions. A lack of focus is even more probl ematic in the case of fuzzy missions, that is when outsiders are uncertain about the exact nature of the missions actually pursued by the agency. Cons equently agencies pursuing multiple missions receive less autonomy. The paper further shows that professionalization creates a sense of mission for the agency, and that the specialization of officials raises their ince ntives. Last, the paper compares its predictions with the stylized facts on Government bureaucracies.