TY  - JOUR
AU  - Heckman,James
AU  - Heinrich,Carolyn
AU  - Smith,Jeffrey
TI  - The Performance of Performance Standards
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 9002
PY  - 2002
Y2  - June 2002
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w9002
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w9002.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
James J. Heckman
Department of Economics
The University of Chicago
1126 E. 59th Street
Chicago, IL 60637
Tel: 773/702-0634
Fax: 773/702-8490
E-Mail: jjh@uchicago.edu

Carolyn J. Heinrich
LaFollette School of Public Affairs
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Madison, WI
E-Mail: cheinrich@lafollette.wisc.edu

Jeffrey Smith
Department of Economics
University of Michigan
238 Lorch Hall
611 Tappan Street
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1220
Tel: 734/764-5359
E-Mail: econjeff@umich.edu
AB  - This paper examines the performance of the JTPA performance system, a widely emulated model for inducing efficiency in government organizations. We present a model of how performance incentives may distort bureaucratic decisions. We define cream skimming within the model. Two major empirical findings are (a) that the short run measures used to monitor performance are weakly, and sometimes perversely, related to long run impacts and (b) that the efficiency gains or losses from cream skimming are small. We find evidence that centers respond to performance standards.
ER  -