The book provoked much thought with ideas such as how fiscal constraints and the political environment preclude the possibility of using the traditional policy solution of increasing public works spending, and that the government should not reduce services in the face of budgetary pressures but instead find new approaches to delivering those services.
而「以今天的財政或政治生態來說，不可能靠增加公共開支來解決問題」，以及「政府不是縮減服務，而是找到做事新方法」等觀念，更引人深思。