BUREAUCRACY: A system or rules and procedures designed to operate a complex organization. While most people look to government when the term bureaucracy arises (and make no mistake, government is not shy when it comes to complex bureaucracies), bureaucracies exist in all types of organizations -- private, public, government, business, charities, corporations, even households. The problem economists have with bureaucracies is that rigid, administrative rules often drive a wedge between action and responsibility. The clerk at the welfare counter is only following rules established by Congress. The clerk has no authority to change the rules, and Congress seldom if ever sees the consequences of their rules.

     See also | government | business | corporation | household | public choice | inefficiency | public good | fifth rule of imperfection | logrolling | public choice | world view |

BUREAUCRACY, AmosWEB GLOSS*arama, http://www.AmosWEB.com, AmosWEB LLC, 2000-2025. [Accessed: December 11, 2025].

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The official unemployment rate estimated and reported monthly by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) using data from Current Population Survey is one of six alternative measures of unemployment tracked and reported by the BLS, officially labeled sequentially U1 through U6. The "official" unemployment rate is U3. The other five measures seek to document different ways in which labor can be under utilized, including unemployment duration, job losers, discouraged workers, marginal workers, and part-time workers.

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Today, you are likely to spend a great deal of time looking for a downtown retail store trying to buy either a set of serrated steak knives, with durable plastic handles or a pair of blue silicon oven mitts. Be on the lookout for empty parking spaces that appear to be near the entrance to a store.
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This isn't me! What am I?

-- Albert Einstein, physicist

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