Behavioral health expenditures and state organizational structure

The authors present a study on expenditures by state mental health, substan ce abuse, and developmental disability agencies in the United States for th e period between 1981 and 1993. The relationship between agency spending an d organizational structure of state bureaucracy was examined. Results indic ate that organizational structure is a determinant of agency spending. The more independent an agency, the higher its spending; conversely, the more i ndependent its competitor, the lower the agency's spending. The number of l evels between an agency and the governor's office was not significant in ex plaining agency expenditures.