Recovery Act Oversight - Written Testimony
9 Pages Posted: 24 Aug 2014
Date Written: June 5, 2009
Abstract
The use of Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) goals and measures to account for results of the Recovery Act, as the administration plans to do, is highly desirable. This increases the odds that taxpayers will get the maximum possible value for their dollars. The current approach would be improved if all agencies were explicitly required to (1) report outcome information for each program alongside cost information and (2) identify the amount of change in program outcomes caused by Recovery Act funding, either by devising measures that isolate the effects of the additional spending or conducting program evaluations that control for other factors that might affect outcomes.
Despite the substantial progress we have seen in GPRA reporting, many agencies’ GPRA goals and measures still need substantial improvement if citizens are to receive a full, fair, and accurate accounting of what their Recovery Act dollars accomplish.
Estimating the Recovery Act’s effects on employment requires serious macroeconomic analysis that takes into account both the immediate and obvious employment effects of the spending and the not so obvious employment effects of the borrowing. Macroeconomic analysis of the Recovery Act’s net effect on employment plays the same role that program evaluation plays in determining how much of the observed outcome was actually caused by a federal program. Calculating the net effect is important because some people may just switch jobs toward one created by federal spending. For this reason, it would be extremely inaccurate to portray only the employment created by the spending as the full effect of the Recovery Act on employment.
Keywords: Recovery Act, stimulus, performance mesurement, outcomes
JEL Classification: D61, E62, H50, H11
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation