the problem with new public administration was that it did not offer more than this normative reorientation. When in the 1970s the U.S. discovered that it was not nearly as affluent as ti had assumed in the previous decade, New public administration proposals for administrative and democratic experiments became unrealistic. In the midst of recession and unemployment, productivity seemed to be more important. Still, the Field did not forget the arguments that the normative questions matter for public administration, and that there is another possible vision of a participative and socially equitable public administration.