Administrative Burdens in Social Policy

Research from behavioral economics suggests that relatively small burdens can have unexpectedly large effects. For example, the state of Wisconsin put in place a requirement that employed Medicaid recipients document a lack of affordable employer-based insurance. Officials expected this change to affect between 2-3 percent of applicants. It resulted instead in an enrollment drop of 20 percent for children and 17.6 percent for adults. Subsequent investigations found that the majority of those affected by the policy change were eligible. Instead, it was the failure to negotiate the administrative processes that drove the loss of access to program benefits.

Public administration expert Donald Moynihan and sociologist Pamela Herd will examine how the burdens individuals encounter in their interactions with government affect the take-up of social policies. These administrative barriers may not only impact the ability of policies to achieve stated goals, but they may also have an impact on inequality. The primary product of this research will be a book that articulates the concept of administrative burden as a function of learning, psychological, and compliance costs, identifies its relevance to a variety of social policy areas, and establishes a coherent research agenda. The book will address four research questions by taking a broad perspective on administrative burdens in multiple policy areas: how do administrative burdens affect program take-up? How do administrative burdens exacerbate inequality? Are burdens policymaking by other means? How can burdens be reduced?