Pamela Herd and Donald P. Moynihan . Administrative Burden: Policymaking by Other Means. New York, NY: Russell Sage Foundation, 2018. pp. 360 ISBN: 9780871544445.

• Published date: 01 September 2021
• Author: Andrea L. Lowe
• Date: 01 September 2021
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/wmh3.426

595

doi: 10.1002/wmh3.426

© 2021 Policy Studies Organization

Book Review

Pamela Herd and Donald P. Moynihan.Administrative Burden: Policymaking by Other

Means. New York, NY: Russell Sage Foundation, 2018. pp. 360 ISBN: 9780871544445.

Administrative Burden: Policymaking by Other Means by Drs. Pamela Herd and

Donald P. Moynihan discusses an insufficiently researched area in public policy:

administrative burdens, or the costs associated with accessing public services, as it

affects both public administrators and the people receiving (or eligible to receive)

the services. From their extensive research in this area, the authors define admin-

istrative burdens as encompassing three types of costs; learning, psychological, and

compliance, which when used to varying degrees can help or hinder participation

in a program or service.

Drs. Herd and Moynihan are professors in Public Policy at the Georgetown

University and experts in this niche area of public administration research;

particularly as administrative burdens lead to social inequality. Rather than being

academic in nature, the authors clearly choose to write Administrative Burden for

policy professionals, given the tone, writing style, and readability of the book for

non‐academic audiences. Each chapter provides a brief history of different health

and social policy programs, their associated decisions, and its impact on admin-

istrative burdens for the citizenry. Finally, the authors conclude with a practical set

of tools and guidance for public health, health policy, and public administration

officials alike to build considerations of these burdens into future policymaking.

Most notable are the attempts by political actors to reinforce stereotypes or

support negative ideologies of service recipients through applied administrative

burdens. This book serves as a clear call to action for policy advocates in these

communities to continue addressing the consequences of these decisions.

Although the entire book outlines this concept, the chapters on voting (Chapter 2),

SNAP (Chapter 6), and Medicaid (Chapter 7)resonate most closely with this

concept.

In Chapter 2, the authors review the history of the Voting Rights Act.

Throughout the chapter, they note the comparative use of restrictions both pre‐

Voting Rights Act (poll taxes, literacy tests, etc.)and today (voter ID, limiting auto‐

enrollment, etc.), limiting rights for citizens deemed to be “less than”others or