This paper addresses the question of how to model government behavior. The central thought is• that in principle the same behavioral model should apply to the behavior of individuals in the private sector as well as the public sector. The paper starts, therefore, with an outline of the contours of a general model of individual behavior. Use is thereby made of the so-called interest function approach that I developed in On the Interaction Between State and Private Sector (Amsterdam: North-Holland, 1983) and which is somewhat further elaborated in this paper. The model is subsequently applied to the behavior of the individuals that makeup the government organization, bureaucrats and politicians. The potential importance of the approach is indicated by a short survey of the theoretical and empirical results obtained with it so far.

This is a translated and slightly revised version of my inaugural lecture at the University of Amsterdam on May 13, 1985, which was published in Dutch by Stenfert Kroese (Leiden, 1985). Its preparation took place while I was visiting the Division of the Humanities and Social Sciences of the California Institute of Technology. I gratefully acknowledge their hospitality, including the secretarial assistance by Irene Baldon. I am further grateful to Jan Pen, Ben van Velthoven, an anonymous referee, and Jos De Ley, for their comments. Published as Van Winden, Frans. "Man in the public sector." De economist 135.1 (1987): 1-28.

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