GDN: Political Economy of
Service Delivery
Lant Pritchett
Harvard Kennedy School
Feb 2, 2009
Just Two Points
• A huge and central issue is not policy but
policy implementation, which is the
endogenous outcome of an overall
system.
• The WDR2004 is not a “model” it is just an
attempt at a vocabulary and the key
element of that is not the triangle, but what
is in the arrows
Difference between notional policy (de jure
specification of mapping from states of the
world to actions) and implemented policy
(reality)
State of the world Policy Action Policy Goal
Notional Policy
Identity, age, If fulfill criteria Identity control
residence, issue license and adequate
competence driving skills
Realized Policy
Has applicant paid If yes, exempt Unsafe drivers
an agent? driving exam, given license
issue license
Second Key Analytical Concept:
Realized policy is a system
outcome
• Agents responsible for policy implementation (at
all levels, top to bottom) make choices.
• These choices are informed by the motivation,
incentives, and capacity of the agents of
implementation.
• The motivation, incentives produce system
capability for policy implementation, a product of
organizational and institutional capability.
Schematic Illustration of the Difference between
Notional and Realized Policy
Notional policy
(de jure)
Direct organizations Front-line
Realized States
of implementation Providers Actions by agents
of the World
(e.g. agencies, (e.g. policemen, of the state
Ministries) Teachers)
Realized policy
(de facto)
Background institutions
(e.g. judiciary, legislative oversight,
professional associations, civil society
A key distinction between
“individual capacity” and
“organizational capability”
• The “state of the world” is a choice variable
• “Individual capacity” is the ability to correctly
detect the state of the world (e.g. expertise)
• “Organizational capability” is the ability of the
organization/system design to induce agents to
correctly assess the state of the world and act
on that to achieve the policy objective—rather
than pursue their own individual incentives
The Overall Accountability Triangle: Four Relationships of Accountability
The state
Politicians Policymakers
Long route of accountability
Short route
Citizens/Clients Providers
Coalition/Inclusion Client Power Management
Non poor Poor Frontline organizations
Flow of Services
(in transaction intensive service provision)
Life is full of garden variety
accountability relationships—which
can go bad in many ways
Finance
Delegation
Performance (chosen by agent)
You Information Guy fixing
(if only from observed outcomes) your plumbing
Enforceability
With services produced directly by the state there are three accountability
relationships, with one crucial “social” relationship—any one of which
can fail, in any one of four design related dimensions
The state
Politicians Policymakers
Do the mechanisms of politics
ate a situation in which politicians Do the politicians (CM, Ministers) and
Executive agencies (MOF) create
(both incumbent and potential) Effective direction for civil servants
feel effective services delegated as managers or service provisio
are a salient issue?
i
Long route of accountability
Citizens/Clients Providers
Coalition/Inclusion Management
Non poor Poor Frontline organizations
Flow of Services
Are managers
(in transaction intensive service provision) of public sector agencies
Capable of creating effective
Management accountability of
Front-line workers
Value of a vocabulary
• There are many different possible designs
based on the same underlying set of principles
(e.g. electricity)
• How “generalized” is a given bit of research,
without a frame there is no way to “add up” or
cumulate research—but the analytical
distinctions cut across traditional “sector”—e.g.
“water” or “roads” are not analytically
homogeneous