This article develops and tests a comprehensive framework explaining the decision to measure performance, specifically the decision of local governments to conduct citizen surveys. It is structured around a fundamental distinction between subjective performance measures obtained for use in decision making and those that are produced solely for their symbolic value. The author suggests that the field of public administration may be taking a simplified view concerning the promotion and adoption of citizen surveys, overlooking important aspects of the decision‐making process of performance‐oriented public managers and neglecting the impact of politics and symbols. Political rationality may undercut managerial rationality in the decision to adopt citizen surveys, and symbolic adoption may be the underlying cause of low levels of information use. This study identifies policies to increase adoption of citizen surveys but cautions that simply promoting the adoption of surveys as inherently good may be a naive and wasteful course of action. Practitioners who have already made the decision to measure subjective performance through citizen surveys, or are facing such a decision, can find in this analysis a structure to assess past decisions or guide future decisions.

This research provides an exhaustive review of U.S. property tax abatement programs and identifies and compares critical structural differences of abatement programs across states. Program differences are much greater than the existing literature recognizes. As a result, perhaps the most comprehensive database on the diversity of property tax abatements is offered to practitioners who are considering the design of a new abatement program or the revision of an existing one, as well as to researchers interested in furthering research on the effectiveness of this policy tool. For each of the identified abatement program features, advantages and disadvantages are discussed in light of existing literature.

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This article explores the impact of property tax abatements on tax rates. Using the case study approach, the research uses data from Monroe County, Indiana, and finds that the impact of abatements on tax rates is negligible. The method consists essentially of calculating the difference between actual tax rates and hypothetical tax rates assuming abatement are not awarded. The results suggest that public officials may see in abatements a symbolic and relatively harmless policy tool for purposes of garnering political support from businesses and citizens. The article discusses these findings in light of current law suits brought against prominent abatement programs.

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