The Effects of Administrative Burden on Program Equity and Performance: Evidence from a Natural Experiment in a Foreclosure Prevention Program

Abstract

The administrative burden of proving eligibility for government programs is shown to undermine program equity and effectiveness (Christensen et al. 2020;Heinrich 2018Heinrich , 2016. Means-tested programs are often associated with compliance burdens, such as significant paperwork and documentation requirements to confirm that would-be recipients meet program eligibility requirements (Moynihan, Herd, and Ribgy 2016). The Hardest Hit Fund

Institutional Entanglements: How Institutional Knots and Reverberating Consequences Burden Refugee Families

“…In addition, studies on administrative burdens, such as those in this double issue, typically focus on challenges in one institution, such as childcare (Bouek 2023), child welfare programs (Barnes, Halpern-Meekin, and Hoiting 2023;Edwards et al 2023), Medicaid (Rauscher and Burns 2023, this issue), schools (Lareau et al 2016), housing programs (DeLuca et al 2023;Pierce and Moulton 2023), legal assistance (Yu 2023, this issue), and disaster relief (Raker and Woods 2023). Yet families are situated at the intersection of multiple institutions, and each one provides a set of administrative burdens for family members to negotiate.…”