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The Influence of Financial Measures on UK Railway Policy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 November 2008

Irvine Lapsley
Irvine Lapsley
Affiliation:
Department of Accounting and Business Method, University of Edinburgh
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Abstract

This paper explores the tension between social and commercial criteria and the importance of the nature of available information in influencing policymaking towards commercial or quasi-commercial activities such as transport undertakings. The importance of financial criteria as key indicators which influence railway policy is established by reference to significant landmarks in the corporate existence of British Rail. An underlying conflict between this information and the declared policies of successive governments is exposed. This reveals that, not only are policy-makers constrained by the difficulties of providing more appropriate information, but they are also the victims of their own reluctance to implement effectively policies which would actually improve existing sources of information.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Public Policy , Volume 3 , Issue 3 , August 1983 , pp. 285 - 300
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1983

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