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Showing papers by "Urban Institute published in 1971"


Journal ArticleDOI
Dennis R. Young1
TL;DR: In this article, the authors view institutional systems of service provision in a "control systems" framework and identify the kinds of "error signals" a system needs to generate, and the types of "corrective mechanisms" that it may employ, and then discuss three basic modes of institutional reform, performance evaluation, decentralization and market competition, for improving the dynamic capability of systems of providing urban public services.
Abstract: Problems associated with providing efficient and equitable distribution of public services are attributable in part to the inabilities of government or other public institutions to be responsive to requirements of their clientele. To permit a better understanding of the nature of such institutional failures, and to suggest avenues of effective reform, this paper views institutional systems of service provision in a “control systems” framework. In this perspective, the elements of “feedback” are seen as essential to successful system performance over time and changing conditions. The paper identifies the kinds of “error signals” a system needs to generate, and the types of “corrective mechanisms” that it may employ, and then discusses three basic modes of institutional reform—performance evaluation, decentralization, and market competition—for improving the dynamic capability of systems of providing urban public services. Two service areas—sanitation and criminal corrections—are used for illustrating possible applications of the reform strategies.

7 citations


Proceedings ArticleDOI
George Sadowsky1
16 Nov 1971
TL;DR: The set of computer related activities characterized by the term "social science computing" is both diverse and extensive and has grown substantially both in scope and in volume during the past 15 years.
Abstract: The set of computer related activities characterized by the term "social science computing" is both diverse and extensive. During the past 15 years, such activities have grown substantially both in scope and in volume and have become increasingly important both for basic research in the social and behavioral sciences and for public policy formation and evaluation.

7 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
Harry P. Hatry1
TL;DR: There have been widespread attempts to implement PPBS or at least some of its major concepts, in local and state governments beginning in 1965 as mentioned in this paper, but progress in the undertaking of the type of program and policy analysis called for by PPBS has been slow.
Abstract: There have been widespread attempts to implement PPBS or at least some of its major concepts, in local and state governments beginning in 1965. The majority of this effort has focused around the development of the structural aspects, including statements of general objectives, development of program structures, and preparation of program budgets. The use of multi-year projections and improved output measurement has begun to gain interest. Recent progress, particularly in the latter, has been encouraging. However, progress in the undertaking of the type of program and policy analysis called for by PPBS has been slow with few exceptions. The lack of quality analytical staffs inside state and local governments has been perhaps the major obstacle.

3 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
Joseph H. Lewis1
TL;DR: The most recent response of our universities to the challenge presented by the urban crisis, the domestic problems that show their dramatic symptoms in our cities, has taken the form of new graduate programs in the policy sciences as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: The most recent response of our universities to the challenge presented by the urban crisis—the domestic problems that show their dramatic symptoms in our cities—has taken the form of new graduate programs in the policy sciences. They are widely diverse in course content, teaching methods, measures to assure experiential inputs and devices for survival in the standard discipline-oriented university climate, but all have the common purpose of improving the quality and enlarging the quantity of both public policy practitioners and analysts. These pioneering activities are growing in an atmosphere of intense intellectual debate and self-examination. How best to design and conduct them with respect to these input parameters, appropriate overall roles for universities in policy science training, the nature of more “rational” decisionmaking as a process, and the roles of policy science-trained analysts and practitioners in it and in promoting it, are all under lively examination and discussion. What has thus far received relatively little attention is the nature of the decision universe in which the products of these programs, the graduates, will need to perform if they are to have impact. In this paper that universe and the relationship of the university to it are characterized in simple market terms. Doing so suggests that the most pressing problems for policy science lie on the demand, not the supply, side of the market. It will take the best efforts of policy scientists to address them successfully.

1 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
Dennis R. Young1
01 Jan 1971
TL;DR: A Bayesian method for choosing among alternative systems when input characteristics are uncertain is presented and the generation of random sample choices improves the state of knowledge of the uncertain multinomial parameters and permits a better decision.
Abstract: Planning for economic and social purposes often requires choosing among alternative proposed systems to fulfill particular needs. In order to make such choices, planners or decision makers must be able to predict and evaluate the performance of each alternative system. For complex systems, methods are often available for doing this when system inputs, such as system user characteristics, can be specified deterministically. The more general situation, of course, is that input characteristics are not known with certainty, but may be described by probability distributions. It is the latter case that is discussed here. A Bayesian method for choosing among alternative systems when input characteristics are uncertain is presented. The method involves generating ``sample best choices'' among alternative systems. This is accomplished by selecting random input values, converting these to sample outputs for each system, and determining the sample best choice on the basis of the sample output values. The random input values are drawn from a probability distribution that encodes the uncertain state of information on inputs. The sample best choices are viewed as random samples of a multinomial random process whose parameters are also not known with certainty. The generation of random sample choices improves the state of knowledge of the uncertain multinomial parameters and permits a better decision. An optimal sampling policy may be found by executing a dynamic programming computation that balances the cost of sampling against the expected gains from improving the state of information.