The Allocation of Federal Aid: The Distribution of Federal Mass Transportation Assistance From 1965--1986
Hamman, John Arden
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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/69814
Description
Title
The Allocation of Federal Aid: The Distribution of Federal Mass Transportation Assistance From 1965--1986
Author(s)
Hamman, John Arden
Issue Date
1988
Department of Study
Political Science
Discipline
Political Science
Degree Granting Institution
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Degree Level
Dissertation
Keyword(s)
Political Science, General
Political Science, Public Administration
Urban and Regional Planning
Abstract
This dissertation reacts to two problems found in the existing literature on federal aid allocations: the first concerns the almost exclusive focus given to committee influences, the second the implicit assumption that influences and resulting federal aid distributions are invariant over time. A temporal model of federal aid allocations is developed which stresses dynamics and three problems which program managers commonly face: identifying a core clientele and devising ways to assist them, expanding the core and meeting its changing needs, and making adjustments to outside challenges to the program once it has been established. It is then theorized that program managers develop allocation strategies which are influenced by non-committee and noncongressional factors such as broad sentiments in Congress, administration policies, clientele demands, and program characteristics, rather than appropriation and authorization committees. The importance of these factors, and hence allocation patterns, likely change in predictable ways as programs grow and develop over time.
The model was tested by examining the entire history of the federal mass transit Section 3 discretionary program from fiscal 1965 through 1986. A combined methodological approach was taken where qualitative methods were used to identify the causal relationships underlying the formulation and implementation of allocation strategies, and quantitative methods employing a pooled time series techniques analyzed the resulting allocation patterns.
The findings showed that mass transit strategies were not invariant over time, and were characterized by both continuity and change. While the program's core clientele received a large share of the overall assistance in each phase of the program's development, the share varied and the means by which program managers targeted it differed in each phase of development. Clientele and programmatic features such as mass transit technologies and the fact that the program administered capital assistance were found to be especially important for explaining strategies. The study also found that combining qualitative and quantitative techniques in a longitudinal framework was productive for investigating the policy process.
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