Implementation Burden and Implementation Effectiveness: How Implementers Cope with Implementation Stress

Across the spectrum of OECD countries we observe an ever-growing stock of policies over the five past decades. However, for these policies to be effective, they need to be implemented adequately. This yields substantial administrative costs. Yet, the growing stock of policies is often not mirrored by a proportional increase in implementation capacities in terms of budget and personnel. In turn, the implementation burden for public servants grows continuously. Therefore, we ask: How do policy implementers cope with implementation stress? After all, the increasing prevalence of implementation deficits would pose a substantial threat to modern democracies. Therefore, this paper explores the linkage between accumulating implementation pressure and implementation effectiveness. Building upon a new data set that traces the growth of environmental and social policy portfolios over time and across countries, we identify four case studies with similar developments of implementation burden but substantially different administrative structures. By relying on semi-structured interviews with implementation agents and experts, we identify constructive (prioritization) and destructive (sloppiness) strategies policy implementers use to cope with their increasing workload. This way, the paper brings together research on public policy, public administration, and implementation and offers a comparative perspective on implementation processes. Extant research typically lacks this kind of cross-country comparison of administrative coping strategies at the administrative frontline.