TY - JOUR
T1 - Principal-agent theory and the structure of science policy, revisited
T2 - 'Science in policy' and the US Report on Carcinogens
AU - Guston, David H.
N1 - Funding Information: David H Guston is associate professor and director of the Public Policy Program, Rutgers University, 33 Livingston Ave, suite 202, New Brunswick, NJ 08901-1980, USA; Email: guston @rci.rutgers.edu. Some of the research reported here was generated under NSF grant # SBR 98-10390. The views presented are entirely those of the author and in no way represent the views of the National Science Foundation. The author would like to acknowledge helpful comments from Mark Brown and Gretchen Schwarz and research assistance from Ed Thater. Copyright: Copyright 2017 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2003/10
Y1 - 2003/10
N2 - This paper uses principal-agent theory to examine the structure of 'science in policy.' It draws from one in-depth case study of regulatory science in the USA, the production of the biennial Report on Carcinogens by the National Toxicology Program (NTP) of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, particularly NTP's review of saccharin as a potential human carcinogen in the late 1990s. The sources of data include extensive documentary review, observation of two public meetings of an advisory committee to NTP, and confidential interviews with seven of nine members of that advisory committee. The paper elaborates on the environment that precipitated Congress's need for a reliable agent, in the creation of NTP as an intermediary to serve as that agent, in the articulation of an explicit set of terms for the performance of that contract, and in the shirking behavior that agents engaged in, despite such precautions.
AB - This paper uses principal-agent theory to examine the structure of 'science in policy.' It draws from one in-depth case study of regulatory science in the USA, the production of the biennial Report on Carcinogens by the National Toxicology Program (NTP) of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, particularly NTP's review of saccharin as a potential human carcinogen in the late 1990s. The sources of data include extensive documentary review, observation of two public meetings of an advisory committee to NTP, and confidential interviews with seven of nine members of that advisory committee. The paper elaborates on the environment that precipitated Congress's need for a reliable agent, in the creation of NTP as an intermediary to serve as that agent, in the articulation of an explicit set of terms for the performance of that contract, and in the shirking behavior that agents engaged in, despite such precautions.
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U2 - 10.3152/147154303781780335
DO - 10.3152/147154303781780335
M3 - Article
SN - 0302-3427
VL - 30
SP - 347
EP - 357
JO - Science and Public Policy
JF - Science and Public Policy
IS - 5
ER -