The study and practice of ethics, in all its exemplary and execrable forms, matter now more than ever. It deals with one of the most gripping questions in life: "What is the right thing to do?" Public Service Ethics: Individual and Institutional Responsibilities, Third Edition, introduces readers to this personally relevant and professionally challenging field of study. No matter the topic—the necessity of ethics, intriguing human behavior experiments, provocative approaches to decision-making, new theories to understand ethical actions, the role of ethics codes, whistleblowing incidents, corruption exposés, and the grandeur as well as decay of morality—there is no shortage of controversy. This book discusses these issues, explains how they arise, and suggests what can be done about them. The authors make the narrative user-friendly and accessible by highlighting dilemmas, challenging readers to resolve them, and enticing them to go beyond the text to discover and confront new issues. New to this Third Edition: Exploration of fascinating and important new topics such as the Green New Deal, Black Lives Matter, oaths of office, classroom dishonesty, state corruption, the Biden administration, and the ethical challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic and response. In-depth profiles of newsworthy figures, including Michael Flynn, Alexander Vindman, Anthony Fauci, and John Lewis. All new case studies drawing on actual and hypothetical events to give students an opportunity to apply concepts and analytical frameworks. All new end-of-chapter discussion questions and exercises to encourage students to think more deeply about ethical issues. The authors' conversational writing style invites readers to annotate pages with their own ideas, experiences, comparisons, and insights, bolstering students' confidence and ultimately preparing them for the ethical problems they will face in their own careers. This lively and thorough new edition is required reading for all public administration and public policy students.

Because every nominal dollar of tax revenue really costs taxpayers $1.65, many of us who are supposed beneficiaries of federal programs are unknowingly engaged in what Payne identifies as self-subsidy - we are in fact paying in more than we get back, subsidizing the very help the government "gives" us. Moreover, while it is imposing hidden monetary burdens, the tax system is literally driving people crazy. Costly Returns recounts the sometimes extreme anxiety and stress suffered by citizens forced to endure the arbitrariness, invasion of privacy, denial of civil rights, and other abuses of a coercive tax system. Why has the tax system become so burdensome? The answer lies in the strangely biased policy-making climate in Washington, where tax officials dominate the debates on tax regulations and where the taxpayer point of view is seldom heard. Payne recommends a novel way to correct this imbalance: Require the IRS to compensate taxpayers for the private sector costs it forces on them.

Michael Josephson discusses ethical values and decision-making techniques as he explores the everyday pressures that can compromise our integrity.