When Less Means More: Policy Accumulation, Administrative Capacities, and Policy Performance

Area of Science:

• Public Administration
• Environmental Policy
• Policy Implementation

Background:

• Democratic governments continuously introduce new policies for societal, economic, and environmental challenges.
• Expansion of policy measures can lead to overburdened public administrations.
• The capacity of public bodies to execute policies is crucial for their success.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the relationship between the scope of sectoral policy portfolios and the available implementation capacities.
• To understand how this relationship affects the effectiveness of sectoral policies.
• To analyze the impact on policy performance.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of environmental policies across Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries.
• Examination of the correlation between the number of policies and available resources for implementation.
• Assessment of policy performance as an outcome measure.

Main Results:

• A growing disparity identified between the number of policies needing implementation and the resources allocated.
• This gap between policy demands and administrative capacity negatively impacts policy performance.
• Evidence suggests implementation capacity is a critical factor in policy effectiveness.

Conclusions:

• The increasing complexity of policy agendas challenges the implementation capacity of public administrations.
• Effective policy outcomes, particularly in environmental governance, depend on aligning policy scope with administrative resources.
• Addressing the implementation gap is essential for enhancing policy effectiveness and performance.