The Potential for Public Empowerment through Government-Organized Participation

Th is article develops a better theoretical understanding of the linkage between the processes and outcomes associated with government-organized public participation, including its potential to empower citizens in guiding administrative decisions. Special focus is given to those factors that shape the development and maintenance of the citizen-administrator relationship. To this end, the research examines the work of federally mandated citizen review panels and their interactions with state child protection agency administrators. Based on 52 in-depth interviews conducted with citizens and administrators in three U.S. states, a grounded theory approach is employed to derive a series of testable theoretical propositions. Th e insights gained are of importance not only to public administration scholars but also to citizens and administrators who engage one another through formally organized channels of participation

Strategic Tax Planning for State Tax Amnesties: Evidence from Eligibility Period Restrictions

Tax amnesty programs have exploded in popularity among cash-strapped states since the beginning of the Great Recession. Though many scholars have been interested in the long-term tax compliance effects after amnesty programs, this article is the first to consider short-run compliance effects just prior to a known amnesty—a moral hazard effect leading to strategic delinquencies. Evidence of this is detected from year-over-year tax revenue change in quarters just prior to an amnesty program. Regression analysis on pre-amnesty periods for state tax amnesty programs between 1982 and 2011 indicates that states experience higher pre-amnesty revenues when recent delinquents are excluded from amnesty participation. The point estimates from ordinary least squares (OLS) indicated that about 4.3 to 6.4 percent of an average amnesty’s recovery came from strategically delayed payments, whereas IV/2SLS put the range at 12.9 to 16.5 percent

The Potential for Public Empowerment through Government-Organized Citizen Participation

Public administration scholars and practitioners have long grappled with the prospects of balancing democracy\u27s aims at openness and public inclusion with bureaucracy\u27s chief values of efficiency and expertise. During the past half-century, a wide range of citizen participation opportunities has emerged, many of which have sought to bring citizens to a more influential position in shaping administrative direction. Under the auspices of a vast grant system, the federal government has frequently linked funding eligibility, at least partially, to the recipient jurisdiction\u27s willingness and ability to facilitate public involvement. Once public participation has been mandated, the choice for administrators is not whether to include the public, but rather, how inclusive to be in terms of quality of interaction and potential for impact