MULTILEVEL ADMINISTRATIVE STRUCTURE AND THE DISTRIBUTION OF SOCIAL-SERVICE EXPENDITURES - A NEBRASKA EXAMPLE

During the decade of the 1980s Nebraska restructured its social servic e (welfare) delivery system. Prier to the change, administrative respo nsibility for many social service programs was shared between the stat e and county governments. The restructuring brought the entire program under state administration. A primary reason for this policy change w as to eliminate administrative inconsistencies evident in the decentra lized structure. This article utilizes 1980 and 1990 data on the distr ibution of Food Stamp and AFDC program expenditures in Nebraska to ana lyze the impact of the restructuring on expenditure distribution. The results indicate that expenditures were more equally distributed and t hat arbitrary decision making was reduced when social service administ ration was centralized.