01311pab a2200157 454500 180718b2000 xxu||||| |||| 00| 0 eng d Beckett, Julia The government should run like a business mantra 2000 p.185-204 Jun The common phrase, government should run like a business evokes powerful ideas: It is a mantra. This article considers the layers of connotation contained in this mantra, noting first that comparisons between government and business is a classic and constant theme in public administration. In recent literature, the theme and focus of business-government comparisons has shifted to modeling government after the market ideas of business. This article adds to this discussion by considering formal constitutive factors present in three basic business forms - the sole proprietor, the partnership, and the corporation. The article further asks whether any of these business forms provides useful models for government. A fundamental concern is conceptualizing government within the context of America's business mythology that echoes in the mantra, "government should run like a business." - Reproduced Public administration American Review of Public Administration 46959 46959 46959 0 0 0 0 IIPA IIPA 2018-07-19 Volume no: 30, Issue no: 2 AR47387 2018-07-19 2018-07-19 AR