Do Administrative Reforms Improve Agency Performance? Vetting, Coordination, and Inequality in FEMA Responsiveness

• In Event: From Administrative Burden to Participation and Compliance: Local Discretion in Federal Assistance Program Delivery

Abstract

Under the broader ideas associated with New Public Management (NPM), public organizations have pursued administrative reforms to enhance efficiency and effectiveness. One prominent reform strategy involves streamlining procedures and reducing red tape. Yet rule elimination alone may fall short of intended performance goals. Green tape refers to rules that facilitate work and enhance organizational effectiveness. Although green tape is associated with improved performance, little is known about whether its benefits vary across different stages of program implementation. In the public sector, administrative outcomes are not shaped by a single decision or event; rather, they result from a series of interconnected processes. Thus, the effects of administrative reform depend not simply on formal rule changes themselves, but on the organizational processes through which reforms are interpreted, implemented, and coordinated across organizations. Additionally, research on public service delivery suggests that procedural barriers do not affect all clients equally. Accessing public benefits requires clients to learn program rules and comply with administrative requirements, placing those with fewer resources at a systematic disadvantage.
Based on these insights, I argue that Green Tape effectiveness depends on both implementation stages and the types of applicants seeking program benefits. Using Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Public Assistance project data, this study examines the effects of the 2014 and 2022 administrative reforms on grant processing times. Multi-state Cox models are used to estimate reform effects across sequential administrative stages and examine heterogeneity across different applicant types and their positions within the intergovernmental system.
Evidence shows that the reforms generated limited effects during the project-vetting stage but substantially accelerated progression through the coordination stage, while private nonprofit and Tribal applicants benefited less than state and local governments. I demonstrate that the benefits of administrative reforms are greater in administrative contexts characterized by uncertainty and low task routineness but are less fully realized by organizations occupying outsider positions within the intergovernmental system.

Author

• Sohee Kim, University of Georgia
  Presenting Author