Public policy, the modern view and the training-investment decisions of the firm: Is a minimalist approach to public sector intervention the answer?

This thesis is an applied study of the response of a selected group of large construction companies in the Sydney Basin to the National Training Reform Agenda (NTRA). The thesis emanates from an interest in the modern view of public policy that suggests public sector intervention should 'augment rather than impede market forces' (Dollery, 1994:225). This view argues that too much public intervention has the potential to culminate in government failure because governments can be self-interested bureaucracies that are divorced from the interests and constraints of the market. To avoid such an outcome, this policy position advocates that governments should develop and implement public policy that encourages community, industry and individual participation in the policy agenda. This minimalist approach to public sector intervention, and the values it espouses, was investigated through research into the NTRA and the construction industry.