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Making Government Accountable: Lessons from a Federal Job Training Program

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  • Gerald Marschke
  • Pascal Courty

Abstract

We describe the evolution of a performance measurement system in a government job-training program. In this program, a federal agency establishes performance measures and standards for sub-state agencies. We show that the performance measurement system's evolution is at least partly explained as a process of trial-and-error, characterized by a feedback loop: the federal agency establishes performance measures, the local managers learn how to game them, the federal agency learns about gaming and reformulates the performance measures, leading to possibly new gaming, and so on. The dynamics suggest that implementing a performance measurement system in government is not a one-time challenge but benefits from careful monitoring and perhaps frequent revision.

Suggested Citation

  • Gerald Marschke & Pascal Courty, 2004. "Making Government Accountable: Lessons from a Federal Job Training Program," Discussion Papers 04-03, University at Albany, SUNY, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:nya:albaec:04-03
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    1. Cragg, Michael, 1997. "Performance Incentives in the Public Sector: Evidence from the Job Training Partnership Act," The Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, Oxford University Press, vol. 13(1), pages 147-168, April.
    2. Pascal Courty & Gerald Marschke, 2004. "An Empirical Investigation of Gaming Responses to Explicit Performance Incentives," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 22(1), pages 23-56, January.
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    Cited by:

    1. Carolyn J. Heinrich & Gerald Marschke, 2010. "Incentives and their dynamics in public sector performance management systems," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(1), pages 183-208.
    2. Andrea Doneschi & Rossana Patron, 2011. "Assessing incentives and risks in training decisions. A methodological note applied to the Uruguayan case," Documentos de Trabajo (working papers) 1511, Department of Economics - dECON.
    3. Bruttel, Oliver, 2005. "Contracting-out and governance mechanisms in the public employment service," Discussion Papers, Research Unit: Labor Market Policy and Employment SP I 2005-109, WZB Berlin Social Science Center.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • J33 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Compensation Packages; Payment Methods
    • L14 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Transactional Relationships; Contracts and Reputation

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