Introduction to the Classic Edition

Private Management and Public Policy was published in 1975 as one in a series of books on economic institutions and social systems. This collection of titles was spearheaded by series editors Dow Votaw and S. P. Sethi of University of California at Berkeley. Our particular project was an outgrowth of a series of courses and modules that Lee Preston and his colleagues developed, fi rst at Berkeley and later at the State University of New York at Buffalo. Their common effort to craft a curriculum focused on the public policy environment of management wove together two decades of thinking, writing, and teaching. This work proved to be an important contribution to a national trend in business education and business practice. In this introduction to the Classic Edition, we review the history of this project, three key themes that have contributed to the development of the fi eld, and the response of colleagues to these ideas.