How information capacity shapes policy implementation: A comparison of administrative burdens in COVID-19 vaccination programs in the United States, Mexico, and the Netherlands

Abstract

There is a growing literature on how policy capacities shape policy implementation. In this article we focus on a specific type: information capacity and its effects on implementation and policy outcomes. Through a comparative case study of the COVID-19 vaccination programs in the United States, Mexico, and the Netherlands, we study how a government's information capacity – the capacity to collect and process information regarding citizens, businesses, and territory – structures administrative burdens for citizens. We develop a typology of models of information capacity (infrastructural, system-by-system, and ad hoc) and explain how they influence policy implementation. We show how the infrastructural model is best equipped to absorb administrative burdens for a majority of citizens, while the system-by-system model and especially the ad hoc model tend to push costs towards frontline workers and citizens. Yet, even if information capacities may shape the affordances of policy implementation beyond the direct control of politicians and policymakers, governments still can make the deliberate choice to mitigate their negative effects by organizing operational flexibility and discretion.