The policy case for metropolitan transport authorities

Abstract

This chapter analyses the relation between institutions and policy outcomes with specific reference to the establishment of a Metropolitan Transport Authority (MTA). Section 1.2 provides a brief review of the different notions of institution and applies institutional analysis to the study of MTAs. Section 1.3 investigates institutional effects and the possible consequences of a metropolitan rearrangement of local governance. Finally, Sect. 1.4 critiques the relation between institutions and policy outcomes by highlighting some of the problems in the assessment of institutional causation. The central proposal of the chapter is that institutional effects should be sought in terms of policy capacity.