(iPoster) Shutting Down Burdens

• In Event: Poster Sessions: Public Administration & Political Organizations and Parties
  In Poster Session: Poster Session: Public Administration

Abstract

Background:

This past federal government shutdown in 2025, took a toll on several departments and benefit programs. Resulting in jobs lost, wait times increased, security risk rose. But just because the shutdown is over does not mean the effects cease to exist.

Literature:

Administrative burden is defined as “individuals experience of policy implementation as onerous” (Moynihan, Herd, Harvey 2014). Previous literature on administrative burden discusses three types of costs, including learning costs, psychological costs and compliance costs (Herd, Moynihan, 2019). The gap in literature is the short-, and long-term effects of administrative burdens, during a time where burdens tend to increase. Administrative burden tends to amplify at different times such as holidays and COVID but what about a government shutdown, where the end is unknown? Additional research is needed to answer how the government shutdown continues long after it ends. This paper will contribute to the literature by analyzing the short- and long-term effects of administrative burden when amplified.

Research Question:

In this paper, administrative burdens are examined in three categories of events, COVID, holidays and government shutdowns. During Covid there was in increase in technology use, but also people were not working or sent home. There was the problem that because everything became electronic, there was a learning curve with different routines and expectations from employers, but the papers, applications and court cases started to back up. Once there was a somewhat of a routine after COVID there was backed up paperwork. From this things started to go one of three ways: businesses went bankrupt and did not continue, they became fully online, or there was a hybrid of electronic and in person strategies, a long-term solution or effect. Holidays are more short term in the sense it tends to be in a week prior, or a week after where consumers buy holiday themed goods. Either last minute or when they go on sale. Producers have the burden to sell these items to make way for new holiday items, it is a recycling method used across the country. But the burden of crowds, wait times especially in the social services see a peak during holiday times, specifically traveling including passport services, and immigration. This can be due to deadlines, personal reasons, vacation. This paper will show a focus in a topic that combines the short term and long-term effects, along with the sense of unknown, a government shutdown.

There are short term and long-term burdens after and during a government shutdown. All three types of costs can be amplified during a government shutdown. Learning costs most seen in workers not knowing how to act with a government shutdown. Long term problems consist of the learning curve for new people being hired after people lost their jobs because of the shutdown. Psychological: the stress on families and costs individuals cannot afford due to lost income. The long term is, furloughed workers do not get that money back or may have had to evacuate their homes due to payment, essentially being unemployed for 3 months. Finally, compliance costs, extra wait times, more paperwork gets backed up and put on the limited employees working, certain departments close because they are not for emergencies which then has a long-term effect on the offices to catch back up when they return back to work.

Administrative government takes an effect on everyone, which is why it is so important to focus on, families who rely on jobs that were lost, travel times, paperwork being delayed, even moving can become more difficult. When trying to solve or alleviate situations like these, policymakers tend to look at policies to implement, technology, and improvements on protocols when situations like these take place. Evidence is everywhere, in people’s daily lives, articles, data.

Research Design:

To explore this research question, a research design of interviews, and surveys will be given to ROTC, and military dependents at my college campus to willingly participate in their choice of a survey or short interview to get more insight into specific ways the government shutdown impacted them, financially through scholarships, financial aid, or internships both during and after the shutdown.


Sources:
Herd, Pamela, and Donald P Moynihan. Administrative Burden : Policymaking by Others Means. New York, Russell Sage Foundation. Copyright, 2018.

Moynihan, D., Herd, P., & Harvey, H. (2014). Administrative burden: learning, psychological, and compliance costs in Citizen-State interactions. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 25(1), 43–69







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Author

• Sara Sprouse, University of South Carolina