{"title":"Potholes, 311 reports, and a theory of heterogeneous resident demand for city services","authors":"Scott J. Cook, Samantha Zuhlke, Robin Saywitz","doi":"10.1111/psj.12540","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Understanding the needs of residents is vital in public administration and management, as this helps officials when making choices on policies and service distribution. Increasingly, cities rely on 311 systems to elicit information from residents on emergent needs in particular policy areas (e.g., road quality, pest control). For residents, 311 systems provide a low‐cost means of voicing concerns, whereas for public officials and researchers, they provide low‐cost data on specific, discrete needs. We argue that residents systematically differ in their engagement with 311 systems, with lower‐income, minority communities less likely to participate and, therefore, less likely to receive city services. We test this argument using census‐tract data from the city of Houston and find that 311 reports are significantly less frequent in areas with lower average socioeconomic status, more Black residents, and more Hispanic residents. Furthermore, we find that these same areas are more likely to have potholes. Taken together, our results indicate that despite greater need (more potholes), fewer services are demanded (less 311 reports) in areas with lower socioeconomic status and a higher percentage of minority residents. This suggests that public officials need to carefully consider heterogeneity in 311 participation to ensure these systems do not inadvertently exacerbate inequities in public services.","PeriodicalId":48154,"journal":{"name":"Policy Studies Journal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":4.1000,"publicationDate":"2024-06-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Policy Studies Journal","FirstCategoryId":"91","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1111/psj.12540","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"POLITICAL SCIENCE","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Understanding the needs of residents is vital in public administration and management, as this helps officials when making choices on policies and service distribution. Increasingly, cities rely on 311 systems to elicit information from residents on emergent needs in particular policy areas (e.g., road quality, pest control). For residents, 311 systems provide a low‐cost means of voicing concerns, whereas for public officials and researchers, they provide low‐cost data on specific, discrete needs. We argue that residents systematically differ in their engagement with 311 systems, with lower‐income, minority communities less likely to participate and, therefore, less likely to receive city services. We test this argument using census‐tract data from the city of Houston and find that 311 reports are significantly less frequent in areas with lower average socioeconomic status, more Black residents, and more Hispanic residents. Furthermore, we find that these same areas are more likely to have potholes. Taken together, our results indicate that despite greater need (more potholes), fewer services are demanded (less 311 reports) in areas with lower socioeconomic status and a higher percentage of minority residents. This suggests that public officials need to carefully consider heterogeneity in 311 participation to ensure these systems do not inadvertently exacerbate inequities in public services.
期刊介绍:
As the principal outlet for the Public Policy Section of the American Political Science Association and for the Policy Studies Organization (PSO), the Policy Studies Journal (PSJ) is the premier channel for the publication of public policy research. PSJ is best characterized as an outlet for theoretically and empirically grounded research on policy process and policy analysis. More specifically, we aim to publish articles that advance public policy theory, explicitly articulate its methods of data collection and analysis, and provide clear descriptions of how their work advances the literature.