市場失靈的理論診斷出經濟上的缺點，而政府失敗的理論認為國家也無法修正這 些缺點。不僅如此，許多有關政府失敗的評論談到其成因，乃是民主政府的基本缺點所致。 本文認為民主政府的決策方式與其他政體相較並不必然無效率。如每位選民行為與期望皆為 理性的，則他們的意志可知同在市場運作一般，故而政府失敗的問題被歸洽於民主制度的不 完善。因此由創制權與公民複決的行使，給予公民資訊和機會來抵抗政治人物的聯盟和壟斷 對投票者的影響力，可以增進政府的效率。

　　　　　Familiar theories of market failure have diagnosed shortcomings in the economy, but theories of government failure argue that the state is incapable of correcting them. More than that, many criticisms of government implicitly or explicitly see failure as fundamental shortcomings of democracy. This paper argues that democratic decision of government are not necessarily inefficient relative to other type of disicionmaking, for example, autoritaian government, and that if individual are as rational in their actions and expections as voters as they are meant to be in the market, then failures attributed to democracy lessen or disappear altogether. The paper demonstrates how more democracy, i.e. the use of the initiative and referendum, may actually improve the efficiency of government by giving the mass of citizens the information and opportunity to frustrate efforts of the classe politique to form a coalition against the voters.