Paying Our High Public Officials

Teun J. Dekker is currently Assistant Professor of Political Philosophy and Vice-Dean of Academic Affairs at University College Maastricht – Maastricht University. He has held visiting research positions at Amherst College and Yale University. He has had articles published in Inquiry, Ethics and Economics, The Journal of Value Inquiry, The Canadian Philosophical Review, Imprints, and Politics, Philosophy and Economics.

• 1: The Problem of High Public Officials’ Remuneration. 2: Analytical Discourse Evaluation: A Manifesto. 3: The It’s Taxpayers’ Money Argument. 4: The Compensating Benefits and Broad Comparability Argument. 5: The Motivation Selection Argument. 6: The Live Like Common People Argument. 7: The Example Argument. 8: The Optimal Performance Argument. 9: The Corruption Argument. 10. Conclusion: Three Questions, Two Visions.

"Teun Dekker applies a fresh intellectual lens to a vitally important and grievously muddled public issue."—John D. Donahue, Harvard University"It is difficult to escape discussions in the media about the salaries and perquisites of public officials. Most of those discussions have more heat than light, but Teun Dekker has provided a lucid analysis of the justifications for those rewards for public office. He evaluates a range of justifications offered for pay and perquisites, and demonstrates their linkage to political theory. This is crucial reading for anyone interested in contemporary governance."—B. Guy Peters, University of Pittsburgh and Zeppelin University