Fifty years as the fourth pillar of public administration: A polycentric extension of the social equity framework

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Stokan, Eric; Hatch, Megan E.; Overton, Michael
• 署名单位: University System of Maryland; University of Maryland Baltimore County; University System of Ohio; Cleveland State University; University of Idaho
• 刊物名称: PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0033-3298
• DOI: 10.1111/padm.12888
• 发表日期: 2023
• 页码: 1427-1442
• 关键词: block grant program; community-development; allocation; IMPACT; cdbg

摘要

While public consideration of social equity pre-dates Minnowbrook (Blessett et al., 2019; Burnier, 2021), the field formally recognized social equity as its fourth pillar after the conference (Frederickson, 1971). The National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA, 2000), Svara and Brunet (2004, 2005), and Johnson and Svara (2011) outlined a unified social equity framework along four dimensions: procedural fairness, access, quality, and outcomes. We build on this important work by offering a polycentric extension, which considers what social equity means when government programs are often place-based and delivered in an intergovernmental context with multiple decision-making units across spatial levels (e.g., state, city, neighborhood) simultaneously. Using the Community Development Block Grant as an example, we demonstrate the importance of careful consideration of geographic levels in the delivery of public goods for understanding the program's social equity implications. The polycentric framework can be a useful tool for evaluating the social equity of policies.