Cases

Conflicting Findings: Evaluating WIC

Publication Date: January 01, 1986

This case is designed to foster discussion concerning a question public managers often face: How should one make decisions when available studies and data appear contradictory? A 1984...

Smith and the Public Health Battle

Publication Date: January 01, 1986

In this disguised case, Helen Smith is a newly appointed state administrator of personnel hired as part of a new governor's reform effort. Smith's task is to crack down on the practice of...

Competitive Bypass of Pacific Gas & Electric

Publication Date: January 01, 1986

In 1986, Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E), a private utility company serving most of northern and central California, was facing the loss of many of its biggest and best customers. The threat...

California Water Pricing

Publication Date: January 01, 1986

In many parts of California, water districts set prices so that agricultural users pay far less than residential users and far less than the true cost of water. While the adoption of a...

Saving the Tuolumne (Sequel)

Publication Date: January 01, 1986

In April 1983, the City and County of San Francisco and two irrigation districts in Merced and Stanislaus counties commissioned a feasibility study of their long-standing proposal to dam the...

Saving the Tuolumne

Publication Date: January 01, 1986

In April 1983, the City and County of San Francisco and two irrigation districts in Merced and Stanislaus counties commissioned a feasibility study of their long-standing proposal to dam the...

Controlling Acid Rain, 1986

Publication Date: January 01, 1986

This case is designed to support a discussion of how to apply an economic evaluation of the appropriate level of control of an externality to a real problem with incomplete information of...

George Shultz and the Polygraph Test

Publication Date: January 01, 1986

Shortly before Christmas 1985, Secretary of State George Shultz publicly threatened to resign over a pending administration directive that would have required thousands of government...

Environmental Protection Agency: Ruckelshaus Returns

Publication Date: January 01, 1985

This case summarizes the plethora of problems William Ruckelshaus faced when he returned to EPA in 1983 after the controversial Gorsuch years. Budget, personnel, organizational and...

Marie Nicole Thompson

Publication Date: January 01, 1985

Marie Nicole Thompson has recently joined the planning department in the small city of Southport. Although the new job is well-suited to Thompson's talents and she works well with her...

Recruiting Policies for the US Army

Publication Date: January 01, 1985

This case offers a (fictionalized) look at the responsibilities of a staff officer in the office of the Army deputy chief of staff for personnel as that office prepares for the advent of the...

Great Engine War (Abridged)

Publication Date: January 01, 1985

This case provides a detailed account of a competition between Pratt and Whitney and General Electric fostered by the US Air Force for a $17 billion contract to build fighter engines. The...