The corporatization of local public services is an increasingly common public management reform worldwide. This study investigates whether a shift from in-house to not-for-profit corporatized service provision can result in improvements across multiple dimensions of performance. To do so, we examine the staggered adoption of Arms-Length Management Organizations (ALMOs) to provide social housing by a third of English local governments during the period 2000 to 2008. Utilizing a Differences-in-Differences (DiD) with Multiple Time Periods (MTP) approach, we find that corporatized social housing outperformed in-house provision on service quality, citizen satisfaction, and environmental sustainability, with little evidence of worse achievements on other performance dimensions. Event history analysis suggests performance benefits emerged around 2 years after corporatization occurred. Our study therefore implies that not-for-profit corporatization is potentially an effective strategy for improving local public service performance.
{"title":"Does not-for-profit corporatization of local public services improve performance?","authors":"José M. Alonso, Rhys Andrews","doi":"10.1002/pam.22667","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/pam.22667","url":null,"abstract":"The corporatization of local public services is an increasingly common public management reform worldwide. This study investigates whether a shift from in-house to not-for-profit corporatized service provision can result in improvements across multiple dimensions of performance. To do so, we examine the staggered adoption of Arms-Length Management Organizations (ALMOs) to provide social housing by a third of English local governments during the period 2000 to 2008. Utilizing a Differences-in-Differences (DiD) with Multiple Time Periods (MTP) approach, we find that corporatized social housing outperformed in-house provision on service quality, citizen satisfaction, and environmental sustainability, with little evidence of worse achievements on other performance dimensions. Event history analysis suggests performance benefits emerged around 2 years after corporatization occurred. Our study therefore implies that not-for-profit corporatization is potentially an effective strategy for improving local public service performance.","PeriodicalId":48105,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Policy Analysis and Management","volume":"74 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2025-01-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143056830","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"","authors":"","doi":"10.1002/pam.22651","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/pam.22651","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":48105,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Policy Analysis and Management","volume":"44 1","pages":"7-11"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2025-01-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143112800","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Social infrastructure and left‐behind places by JohnTomaney, MaeveBlackman, LucyNatarajan, DimitriosPanayotopoulos‐Tsiros, FlorenceSutcliffe‐Braithwaite, and MyfanwyTaylor. Taylor & Francis, 2024, 108 pages. $48.99 (paperback). ISBN 978‐1032710051.","authors":"Ihsan Manshur Putra, Rahayu Lestari, Fauziah Istiqomah Abdunnafi","doi":"10.1002/pam.22666","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/pam.22666","url":null,"abstract":"Click on the article title to read more.","PeriodicalId":48105,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Policy Analysis and Management","volume":"66 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2024-12-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142908530","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Vitaly Meursault, Daniel Moulton, Larry Santucci, Nathan Schor
Improving fairness across policy domains often comes at a cost. However, as machine learning (ML) advances lead to more accurate predictive models in fields like lending, education, healthcare, and criminal justice, policymakers may find themselves better positioned to implement effective fairness measures. Using credit bureau data and ML, we show that setting different lending thresholds for low‐ and moderate‐income (LMI) neighborhoods relative to non‐LMI neighborhoods can equalize the rate at which equally creditworthy borrowers receive credit. ML models alone better identify creditworthy individuals in all groups but remain more accurate for the majority group. A policy that equalizes access via separate thresholds imposes a cost on lenders, but this cost is outweighed by the substantial gains from ML. This approach aligns with the motivation behind existing laws such as the Community Reinvestment Act, which encourages lenders to meet the credit needs of underserved communities. Targeted Special Purpose Credit Programs could provide the opportunity to prototype and test these ideas in the field.
{"title":"One threshold doesn't fit all: Tailoring machine learning predictions of consumer default for lower‐income areas","authors":"Vitaly Meursault, Daniel Moulton, Larry Santucci, Nathan Schor","doi":"10.1002/pam.22662","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/pam.22662","url":null,"abstract":"Improving fairness across policy domains often comes at a cost. However, as machine learning (ML) advances lead to more accurate predictive models in fields like lending, education, healthcare, and criminal justice, policymakers may find themselves better positioned to implement effective fairness measures. Using credit bureau data and ML, we show that setting different lending thresholds for low‐ and moderate‐income (LMI) neighborhoods relative to non‐LMI neighborhoods can equalize the rate at which equally creditworthy borrowers receive credit. ML models alone better identify creditworthy individuals in all groups but remain more accurate for the majority group. A policy that equalizes access via separate thresholds imposes a cost on lenders, but this cost is outweighed by the substantial gains from ML. This approach aligns with the motivation behind existing laws such as the Community Reinvestment Act, which encourages lenders to meet the credit needs of underserved communities. Targeted Special Purpose Credit Programs could provide the opportunity to prototype and test these ideas in the field.","PeriodicalId":48105,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Policy Analysis and Management","volume":"114 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2024-12-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142908529","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Decentralized implementation of means-tested social assistance programs requires significant organizational capacity among local governments. For other types of local public service, like refuse collection and utilities provision, inter-municipal cooperation has proven capable of reducing the cost of subnational policy implementation, especially for smaller municipalities. But few impact evaluations test whether the same benefits can be achieved for less capital-intensive and more co-produced services, like social assistance. Moreover, most evaluations focus on production costs alone, despite the potential trade-off with service quality. We analyze panel data describing both the cost and quality of housing allowance administration for 314 local authorities in England between 2009 and 2019, during which time 80 switched from autonomous services to inter-municipal cooperation. Using coarsened exact matching and stacked difference-in-differences, we find no evidence of short-term savings after cooperation, and only weak indications thereafter. We also observe declining processing speeds, increased maladministration, and signs of reduced payment accuracy, though mostly these are temporary effects. Altogether, these results suggest that, in this setting, inter-municipal cooperation may be unsuited to labor-intensive public services; that short- and long-term effects can differ; and that, even in the absence of a profit motive, quality shading remains a risk in cooperation reforms.
{"title":"The effect of inter-municipal cooperation on social assistance programs: Evidence from housing allowances in England","authors":"Thomas Elston, Germà Bel, Han Wang","doi":"10.1002/pam.22664","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/pam.22664","url":null,"abstract":"Decentralized implementation of means-tested social assistance programs requires significant organizational capacity among local governments. For other types of local public service, like refuse collection and utilities provision, inter-municipal cooperation has proven capable of reducing the cost of subnational policy implementation, especially for smaller municipalities. But few impact evaluations test whether the same benefits can be achieved for less capital-intensive and more co-produced services, like social assistance. Moreover, most evaluations focus on production costs alone, despite the potential trade-off with service quality. We analyze panel data describing both the cost and quality of housing allowance administration for 314 local authorities in England between 2009 and 2019, during which time 80 switched from autonomous services to inter-municipal cooperation. Using coarsened exact matching and stacked difference-in-differences, we find no evidence of short-term savings after cooperation, and only weak indications thereafter. We also observe declining processing speeds, increased maladministration, and signs of reduced payment accuracy, though mostly these are temporary effects. Altogether, these results suggest that, in this setting, inter-municipal cooperation may be unsuited to labor-intensive public services; that short- and long-term effects can differ; and that, even in the absence of a profit motive, quality shading remains a risk in cooperation reforms.","PeriodicalId":48105,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Policy Analysis and Management","volume":"61 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2024-12-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142873886","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This study investigates the link between Southwest U.S. border crossings and labor market tightness, measured by the job openings to unemployed ratio, over nearly 25 years (2000 to 2024). Analyzing monthly data, it finds a strong positive correlation, suggesting that increased border crossings strongly align with greater job availability. Exploiting data across different presidential administrations reveals no statistically significant differences in this relationship, regardless of the President's party. The findings suggest a natural economic adjustment mechanism in which crossings naturally decrease as the labor market cools.
{"title":"Not a border crisis, but a labor market crisis: The often overlooked “pull” factor of U.S. border crossings","authors":"Dany Bahar","doi":"10.1002/pam.22665","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/pam.22665","url":null,"abstract":"This study investigates the link between Southwest U.S. border crossings and labor market tightness, measured by the job openings to unemployed ratio, over nearly 25 years (2000 to 2024). Analyzing monthly data, it finds a strong positive correlation, suggesting that increased border crossings strongly align with greater job availability. Exploiting data across different presidential administrations reveals no statistically significant differences in this relationship, regardless of the President's party. The findings suggest a natural economic adjustment mechanism in which crossings naturally decrease as the labor market cools.","PeriodicalId":48105,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Policy Analysis and Management","volume":"83 6 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2024-12-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142873884","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
We evaluate the long-term effects of receiving the Uruguayan Plan de Atención Nacional a la Emergencia Social (PANES), a large unconditional cash transfer program, on outcomes for young and unborn children. We use a rich dataset that matches program administrative data to vital natality data and educational records 8 to 12 years after the beginning of the program. Overall, we find small and barely significant effects on educational attainment and delay. Among children exposed to the program during early childhood (between ages 0 and 5), the results show significant beneficial effects for those with low birth weight.
{"title":"Long-term impacts on education of a cash transfer during early life","authors":"Juanita Bloomfield, José María Cabrera","doi":"10.1002/pam.22663","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/pam.22663","url":null,"abstract":"We evaluate the long-term effects of receiving the Uruguayan <i>Plan de Atención Nacional a la Emergencia Social</i> (PANES), a large unconditional cash transfer program, on outcomes for young and unborn children. We use a rich dataset that matches program administrative data to vital natality data and educational records 8 to 12 years after the beginning of the program. Overall, we find small and barely significant effects on educational attainment and delay. Among children exposed to the program during early childhood (between ages 0 and 5), the results show significant beneficial effects for those with low birth weight.","PeriodicalId":48105,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Policy Analysis and Management","volume":"11 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2024-12-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142849546","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The decades-long rise of economic inequality in the U.S. has led to a growing body of literature examining the role of policy in shaping income differences. We examine one such policy: occupational licensing regulations. Licensing can restrict employment and reduce market competition, which can then inflate wages for those in licensed professions. Existing research demonstrates that occupational licensure does increase wages in specific industries, leading some scholars to argue that licensing makes income inequality worse. We add nuance by arguing that the effect of licensing on inequality is dependent on which occupation classes experience the largest wage premiums. Using a comprehensive over-time database of state licensing regulations, we first demonstrate that medium- and low-wage jobs garner larger wage premiums than high-wage occupations. Second, consistent with this result we then show that the occupational licensing regulations have the overall effect of reducing state income inequality. This research contributes to our understanding of the causes of growing inequality and how public policy can shape economic disparities through sometimes unintended and indirect ways.
{"title":"Occupational licensing and income inequality in the states","authors":"Wendy Chen, William W. Franko, Robert J. McGrath","doi":"10.1002/pam.22660","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/pam.22660","url":null,"abstract":"The decades-long rise of economic inequality in the U.S. has led to a growing body of literature examining the role of policy in shaping income differences. We examine one such policy: occupational licensing regulations. Licensing can restrict employment and reduce market competition, which can then inflate wages for those in licensed professions. Existing research demonstrates that occupational licensure does increase wages in specific industries, leading some scholars to argue that licensing makes income inequality worse. We add nuance by arguing that the effect of licensing on inequality is dependent on which occupation classes experience the largest wage premiums. Using a comprehensive over-time database of state licensing regulations, we first demonstrate that medium- and low-wage jobs garner larger wage premiums than high-wage occupations. Second, consistent with this result we then show that the occupational licensing regulations have the overall effect of reducing state income inequality. This research contributes to our understanding of the causes of growing inequality and how public policy can shape economic disparities through sometimes unintended and indirect ways.","PeriodicalId":48105,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Policy Analysis and Management","volume":"26 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2024-11-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142713020","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Reforms that reduce spousal support after divorce are generally thought to reduce the bargaining power of alimony recipients as well as their incentives to participate in the traditional model of household specialization. Using the U.S. Time Use Survey and exploiting a series of recent reforms in several U.S. states that reduced the rights of eligible spouses, we find that wives surprised by the reforms reacted by increasing their labor supply, but the adjustment mechanism varied by educational group. While college educated wives' labor supply increased at the expense of time spent on housework and childcare, wives with less than a college degree sacrificed personal care and leisure time. Effects for men are generally smaller and not statistically significant. We also find a reduction in the rate of new births following the reforms, with the effect being much more pronounced in the case of women with a university education, suggesting that part of the difference in time use may be attributable to differences in preferences and the cost of children by educational levels. Since children are a marital public good, our results imply a decrease in marriage-specific investment. The estimated effects are robust to various sensitivity tests and are greater in couples with a high-income differential and therefore more exposed to changes in alimony laws.
人们普遍认为，减少离婚后配偶赡养费的改革会降低赡养费领取者的讨价还价能力以及她们参与传统家庭专业化模式的积极性。我们利用美国时间利用调查（U.S. Time Use Survey），并利用美国几个州最近进行的一系列改革（这些改革降低了符合条件的配偶的权利），发现对改革感到惊讶的妻子们的反应是增加她们的劳动力供给，但调整机制因教育群体而异。受过大学教育的妻子在增加劳动供给的同时牺牲了家务和育儿时间，而大学以下学历的妻子则牺牲了个人护理和休闲时间。对男性的影响一般较小，在统计上也不显著。我们还发现，改革后新生儿的出生率有所下降，这对受过大学教育的女性的影响更为明显，这表明时间使用上的部分差异可能归因于不同教育水平的偏好和子女成本的差异。由于子女是一种婚姻公共产品，我们的结果意味着婚姻特定投资的减少。估计的影响对各种敏感性测试都是稳健的，而且对高收入差异的夫妇影响更大，因此更容易受到赡养费法律变化的影响。
{"title":"The effect of alimony on married women's labor supply and fertility: Evidence from state-level reforms","authors":"Daniel Fernández-Kranz, Jennifer Roff","doi":"10.1002/pam.22661","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/pam.22661","url":null,"abstract":"Reforms that reduce spousal support after divorce are generally thought to reduce the bargaining power of alimony recipients as well as their incentives to participate in the traditional model of household specialization. Using the U.S. Time Use Survey and exploiting a series of recent reforms in several U.S. states that reduced the rights of eligible spouses, we find that wives surprised by the reforms reacted by increasing their labor supply, but the adjustment mechanism varied by educational group. While college educated wives' labor supply increased at the expense of time spent on housework and childcare, wives with less than a college degree sacrificed personal care and leisure time. Effects for men are generally smaller and not statistically significant. We also find a reduction in the rate of new births following the reforms, with the effect being much more pronounced in the case of women with a university education, suggesting that part of the difference in time use may be attributable to differences in preferences and the cost of children by educational levels. Since children are a marital public good, our results imply a decrease in marriage-specific investment. The estimated effects are robust to various sensitivity tests and are greater in couples with a high-income differential and therefore more exposed to changes in alimony laws.","PeriodicalId":48105,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Policy Analysis and Management","volume":"10 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2024-11-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142696758","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Credible climate policy must account for political and economic realities","authors":"Elizabeth Pancotti, Todd N. Tucker","doi":"10.1002/pam.22654","DOIUrl":"10.1002/pam.22654","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":48105,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Policy Analysis and Management","volume":"44 1","pages":"332-334"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2024-11-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142580701","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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