Economic-NPM and the Need to Bring Justice and Equity Back to the Debate on Public Organizations

Abstract

The debate on New Public Management (NPM) has largely neglected the discussion of justice and equality. Fortunately enough, there is now a long list of articles that provide empirical analyses of the consequences of NPM in a variety of settings. Despite these analyses, the organizational, moral, administrative, and ethical repercussions of NPM are enormous and require further careful attention. This article attempts to link a specific version of NPM that I have called Economic New Public Management (or E-NPM) with the discussion on justice and equality. This version of NPM frequently resembles specific versions of libertarian critiques toward liberalism. Five organizational outcomes are proposed so as to asses the impact that this version of NPM has on governmental organizations.