Persistent disparities in program access jeopardize social equity and erode a key pillar of democratic governance. Scholars have uncovered the causes of these disparities, including administrative burden and front-line discrimination, but less attention has been devoted to identifying tools for reducing disparities. We build on this work by arguing that reducing street-level bureaucrats’ workload may be a key lever for reducing disparities. We also argue that workload reductions will be especially effective at advancing equity when administrative burden is expanded and complexity in client cases could otherwise create room for racial discrimination. We leverage data on all high schools in Oklahoma from 2005-2014 (n=4,155) to estimate the causal effects of a state policy that mandates a counselor-student ratio in a regression discontinuity design. In line with our hypotheses, we find that decreasing workload corresponds to an increase in access for intersectionally minoritized students—low-income Black, Native American, and Hispanic students. Moreover, we find that effects were concentrated in the years after administrative burden was expanded. Together, our findings suggest that reducing workload can alleviate longstanding disparities in program access.

中文翻译：

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减少基层官员的工作量是否可以增强项目准入的公平性？来自负担学院经济援助计划的证据

项目获取方面持续存在的差异危及社会公平并侵蚀民主治理的关键支柱。学者们已经揭示了这些差异的原因，包括行政负担和一线歧视，但较少关注确定减少差异的工具。在这项工作的基础上，我们认为减少基层官僚的工作量可能是减少差距的关键杠杆。我们还认为，当行政负担扩大且客户案件的复杂性可能为种族歧视创造空间时，减少工作量对于促进公平特别有效。我们利用 2005 年至 2014 年俄克拉荷马州所有高中的数据 (n=4,155) 来估计在回归不连续性设计中规定辅导员与学生比例的州政策的因果效应。根据我们的假设，我们发现，工作量的减少对应于交叉少数群体学生（低收入黑人、美洲原住民和西班牙裔学生）入学机会的增加。此外，我们发现影响集中在行政负担扩大后的年份。总之，我们的研究结果表明，减少工作量可以缓解项目访问方面长期存在的差异。