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Equity, efficiency and political feasibility in federal project selection procedures

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Abstract

This paper proposes four criteria to evaluate the implementation of U.S. federal grant agency project processing procedures. The criteria - anonymity, non-perversity, implementation of program goals and adequacy - go beyond the arguments over rational-analytic versus incremental policymaking by suggesting criteria which both models can meet. Examples of two federal programs' selection procedures are used to illustrate the applicability of, and divergency from, the proposed criteria. The paper concludes with a discussion of the factors important to administrators in selecting project processing procedures.

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I wish to thank Peter deLeon, Don S. Schwerin, M. Stephen Weatherford, and two anonymous reviewers for their extensive comments.

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Anagnoson, J.T. Equity, efficiency and political feasibility in federal project selection procedures. Policy Sci 14, 331–345 (1982). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00137395

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