Success and Failure, Outputs, Outcomes, and Instruments

For Thursday, read Schuck, ch. 4 and email me your brief (250 words max) reflections.

What is success?  What is failure?

The public has mixed views of government performance.

Decentralization -- more on Thu

Output and Outcomes

Outputs	Outcomes
Output is what the activity creates at its end.	Outcome is the level of performance that occurred because of the program.
Outputs are immediate products.	Outcomes are results that may take months or years.
Outputs are easy to measure (e.g., payments)	Outcomes are usually hard to measure. Controversy over the desired end state Operational definitions Data scarcity Time and accountability Causality/"Noise"
Outputs are within direct control of the managers.	Outcomes are not within direct control of the program/program managers.

Some outputs of a HIV/AIDS program: Number of HIV/AIDS workshops and  participants Number of prophylactics sent out. Number of community awareness meetings

Some outcomes: Increased knowledge of HIV/AIDS Increased treatment success Decreased incidence and prevalence

The distinction is not always airtight.  UC administrators and students may have very different ideas about what counts as an outcome:

Cost-Benefit Analysis can literally be a matter of life and death (Schuck 43-51).  

It is both common and controversial:  see issues of race and disability.

Instruments of policy (abbreviated from Schuck 80-83):

• Direct bureaucratic administration (public schools)
• Government corporations and GSEs (Postal Service)
• Regulation (admin. rules)
• Insurance (FDIC; FSLIC and RTC)
• Information (websites)
• Taxes and Tax expenditures (mortgage interest)
• Grants and contracts (see the true size of government)
• Loans and loan guarantees (SBA)
• Vouchers
• Private cause of action