The Bite of Administrative Burden: A Theoretical and Empirical Investigation
2015/12/08 by Carolyn J. Heinrich · 19 citations
Economics, Econometrics and Finance · Social Sciences · #Fiscal Policy and Economic Growth #Gender, Labor, and Family Dynamics #Poverty, Education, and Child Welfare
paper · doi:10.1093/jopart/muv034
openalex publication_date 2015/12/08 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/30
Abstract
The study of administrative burden—experienced in individual encounters with government—is being renewed with new theoretical developments and policy applications. Building on recent developments, this article aims to broaden the conceptual framing of administrative burden and extend its empirical investigation beyond concerns about access to and efficiency of public services to questions of individual and societal impacts. It also expands beyond the typical US or developed country context to examine this phenomenon in the setting of a large social protection program in South Africa, where the “bite” of administrative burden may potentially be bigger. The empirical analysis uses data from the South African Child Support Grant (CSG) evaluation to investigate how CSG program rules and requirements affected administrative burdens and erected barriers to grant receipt. The findings show that 60% of CSG recipients experienced an interruption or disconnection in grant receipt that appears to be associated with administrative burden, with 80% of those stoppages in error. The resulting loss of monthly benefits has significant negative implications for the outcomes of adolescents targeted by the program.
Citations
Cited by
- Children of a Lesser God: Administrative Burden and Social Equity in Citizen–State Interactions
- Easing administrative burden in the public safety net: insights from a trauma-informed housing programme
- A Tale of Two Programs? Stigma and Administrative Burdens in CHIP and Medicaid
- Losing Out: How the Public Assesses Coverage Loss due to Administrative Burden
- Do public administration reforms increase trust in government in transitional settings? Evidence from Ukraine
- Experiences of Administrative Burden in Context: Exploring Differences Across Countries, Policy Domains, and Socio‐Demography
- Improving Delivery of the Social Safety Net: The Role of Stigma
- Bureaucratic redundancy and administrative burden: Evidence from public‐private partnerships (PPPs) in China
- Does Reducing Street-Level Bureaucrats’ Workload Enhance Equity in Program Access? Evidence from Burdensome College Financial Aid Programs
- Worth the effort? Compliance costs, heuristics, and perceived program accessibility
- Between Benefits and Burdens: Navigating the Dutch Landscape of Childcare Allowances From a Migrant Perspective
- How effective are behavioral interventions to increase the take‐up of social benefits? A systematic review of field experiments
- It takes (at least) two to tango: Investigating interactional dynamics between clients and caseworkers in public encounters
- Administrative checkpoints, burdens, and human‐centered design: Increasing interview access to raise SNAP participation
- Burdens, Sludge, Ordeals, Red tape, Oh My!: A User's Guide to the Study of Frictions
- Digital Transformation, Administrative Burden, and Citizen–State Interactions: A Case of the Old Age Allowance Policy in China
- Explaining Burden Reduction in Municipal Service Delivery: The Case of Streamlined Electric Vehicle Charger Permitting in California
- Assessing burden tolerance amid the Medicaid Great Unwinding
- Red tape [wikipedia]
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