Effectiveness, efficiency, and equity tradeoffs in public programs: A citizen experiment

Public Administration Review, vol. 83, pp. 1462–1477

Abstract

Abstract Debates over public programs frequently focus on questions of effectiveness, equity, and efficiency and the tradeoff among these objectives. Missing from the literature is whether the general public cares about these tradeoffs, can perceive such differences, and will act on them. This article reports on two pre‐registered vignette experiments where the effectiveness, equity, and efficiency are assessed relative to experimental treatments focused on U.S. K‐12 education involving test scores, equality of test scores, and program costs. One experiment focuses on equity in race and the other on equity in income. The experiments show that the general public perceives differences in program effectiveness and equity, values both, and is unwilling to tradeoff one for the other. The public cares about program costs, but it lacks a sophisticated understanding of efficiency as a concept. Inequalities in income appear to influence equity concerns more than those involving race.

Authors 3

1. Kenneth J. Meier corresponding Aachen Institute of Public Administration Leiden University The Hague The Netherlands

   Leiden University · Cardiff University · American University

   Affiliation as printed

   Cardiff School of Business Cardiff University Cardiff UK

   Department of Public Administration and Policy, School of Public Affairs American University Washington DC USA

   Institute of Public Administration Leiden University The Hague the Netherlands

   Department of Public Administration and Policy, School of Public Affairs American University Washington DC USA

2. Jourdan A. Davis

   University of North Carolina at Charlotte

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Political Science and Public Administration University of North Carolina‐Charlotte Charlotte North Carolina USA

   Department of Political Science and Public Administration University of North Carolina‐Charlotte Charlotte North Carolina USA

3. Xiaoyang Xu

   Georgetown University

   Affiliation as printed

   McCourt School of Public Policy Georgetown University Washington DC USA

   McCourt School of Public Policy Georgetown University 37th Street NW O Street NW Washington, DC 20057