The Cult of Efficiency by Janice Gross Stein, Anansi, 295 pgs, $18.95

It is as trite as it is sage to note that the recent emergence of two books about efficiency is a poor allocation of intellectual resources. First came The Efficient Society by Montreal's Joseph Heath, and now The Cult of Efficiency. Comparisons beg, especially since Janice Gross Stein (a well-regarded, oft-published Political Science Professor at U of T) takes pains to distance herself from Heath, arguing that "Efficiency is about how we should allocate our resources to achieve our goals, not what our goals should be. What our goals are, and how much we value them, is properly outside the language of efficiency." The cult Stein refers to is a society in which efficiency is turned into an end in itself, where no one dares bother to ask, "Efficient at what?"

Stein argues that efficiency without effectiveness is a blunt instrument, obscuring the complex decisions required to successfully manage cherished public goods and services. In our transition to a post-industrial society, the language of the free market now dominates our attempts to reinvigorate the public sector. As Stein sagely notes, we no longer concern ourselves with the freedom to choose, but rather, the right to choice. Our society clearly values efficiency, but its pursuit is not value neutral, often spiked with unarticulated agendas and assumptions: "Controlling -- or cutting -- costs can be inefficient if it reduces the effectiveness of health care by an even larger margin. Much of the language of the past decade misconstrues efficiency to mean cost-containment." Thus spake Walkerton.

The Cult of Efficiency is a brilliant essay masquerading as a full-length book. Not until the third chapter, "Efficiency and Choice," does Stein hit her stride. It is here where she sifts through the logic and shortcomings of market responses and solutions to health care and education. She writes at length about public markets (a situation where the state allows the private sector to provide a public good) and what lessons can be learned from such experiments (for example, the worth of school voucher programs).

Stein also discusses how efficiency begets accountability, a gauge that works better in theory than in practice, as the mandatory, uniform student testing in Ontario public schools is revealing. "A revolt against standardized testing as the single measure of effectiveness and the only mechanism of accountability is growing. The tail of testing has begun to wag the educational dog. Parents are upset by the amount of classroom time taken from other teaching to prepare students to take the test."

Unfortunately, much of Cult sputters when it should hum. Before and beyond chapter three, reader engagement varies. Valuable insights into shifting notions of citizenry share space with an ongoing rehash of philosophy 201. Equally frustrating is Stein's rebuke of Joseph Heath, a philosopher who is clearly her ideological kissing cousin. A careful read of Heath reveals he has no desire to dismantle universal health care. Stein seems unwilling to concede the importance of the person who wields the sword of efficiency. Heath is an agile and precise fencer, where Mike Harris evinced the grace of a thick-fingered butcher.

Politics aside, Heath's book is far more accessible and enjoyable. Where Efficient Society is concrete and anecdotal, Cult is often dry and more abstract. Some of the problems with Cult stem from the format -- this is the print version of Stein's recent CBC Massey Lecture Series performances. This book no doubt sounds better than it scans. In an age of content providing, repurposing and synergistic cross-platform convergence, it is worth remembering that the medium is still the message -- a great book can make for a middling lecture, and vice-versa.