Administrative Burden: Policymaking by Other Means

361 Pages·2019·1.748 MB·English

by  Herd, Pamela, Moynihan, Donald P.

AdministrAtive Burden

ADMINISTRATIVE
BURDEN
PolicymAking By other meAns
Pamela Herd and Donald P. Moynihan
Russell Sage Foundation new york
the russell sAge FoundAtion
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BoArd oF trustees
Claude M. Steele, Chair
Larry M. Bartels Michael Jones-Correa Sara S. McLanahan Shelley E. Taylor
Karen S. Cook Lawrence F. Katz Martha Minow Hirokazu Yoshikawa
Sheldon Danziger David Laibson Peter R. Orszag
Kathryn Edin Nicholas Lemann Mario Luis Small
liBrAry oF congress
cAtAloging-in-PuBlicAtion dAtA
Names: Herd, Pamela, author. | Moynihan, Donald P., author.
Title: Administrative burden : policymaking by other means / Pamela Herd and
Donald P. Moynihan.
Description: New York : Russell Sage Foundation, [2018] | Includes bibliographical references
and index.
Identifiers: lccn 2018029435 (print) | lccn 2018030618 (ebook) | isBn 9781610448789 (ebook) |
ISBN 9780871544445 (pbk. : alk. paper)
Subjects: lcsh: Public administration—United States. | Bureaucracy—United States. |
Administrative agencies—United States. | Political planning—United States. |
United States—Social policy. | United States—Economic policy.
Classification: lcc Jk421 (ebook) | lcc Jk421.H396 2018 (print) | ddc 320.60973—dc23
lc record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018029435
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We dedicate this book to the Wisconsin Idea and the University of
Wisconsin Regents of 1894. Scholars “shall never be content until the
beneficent influence of the University reaches every family of the state.”
That idea, attributed to University of Wisconsin president Charles
Van Hise, can be fully realized only when accompanied by strong
academic freedoms. The University of Wisconsin Regents of 1894,
in their wisdom, offered the following defense of independent research:
“Whatever may be the limitations which trammel inquiry elsewhere,
we believe that the great state University of Wisconsin should ever
encourage that continual and fearless sifting and winnowing by which
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our home, we carry these values with us. On Wisconsin.

CONTENTS
List of Illustrations ix
About the Authors xi
Acknowledgments xiii
Introduction 1
1 Understanding Administrative Burden 15
2 The Resurgence of Burdens in Voting: Race, Burdens,
and Access to Political Rights 43
3 False Claims and Targeted Burdens: The Case of Abortion
Restrictions 71
4 The Affordable Care Act: Federalism as a Source of Burdens 95
5 Negotiating the Medicare Maze 121
6 Bipartisan Fixes and Partisan Blame: Cycles of Burdens in SNAP 143
7 Mending Medicaid: The Politics of Shifting Burdens
at the State Level 165
8 The Earned Income Tax Credit: Benefiting Business
by Reducing Burdens on the Working Poor 191
9 Social Security: How the Biggest Bookkeeping Organization
in the World Banished Burdens 215
10 Toward an Evidence-Based Approach to Administrative Burden 241
Notes 269
References 295
Index 337

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Box
Box 4.1 Legalese in Health Insurance: Policy Provision
from a Rhode Island Insurer 105
Figures
Figure 1.1 A Framework for Understanding State Construction
of Burdens 19
Figure 5.1 The Medicare Maze 132
Figure 6.1 Participation Rate in SNAP, 1995–2014 146
Figure 8.1 IRS Simplified Reminders to Potential
EITC Beneficiaries 197
Figure 9.1 Flyer Distributed by Information Service 230
Tables
Table 1.1 The Components of Administrative Burden 23
Table 2.1 Comparing Burdens in Pre–Voting Rights Era
and Today 47
Table 2.2 State Actions to Reduce or Increase Burdens
in Voter Registration 50
Table 2.3 Policy Checklist to Reduce or Increase Burdens
in Voting 54