Broken Hierarchies, Quasi‐markets and Supported Networks – A Governance Experiment in the Second Tier of G ermany's Public Employment Service

Matthias Knuth

26 citations0/0 files storedSocial Policy and Administration

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Public Policy and Administration Research Social Policy and Reform Studies Employment, Labor, and Gender Studies

Abstract

Abstract From 2005 to 2015, the German government implemented a special programme for jobseekers aged 50 plus and receiving minimum income benefits. Descriptive comparisons and econometric evaluation indicate that this programme was more effective and cost‐efficient than the German jobcentres' standard operations. However, our evaluation did not ascertain any particular instrument or technique which would explain this accomplishment. Rather, the formula for success appears to be hidden in the governance and design of the programme which differed markedly from routine support. Network‐type governance mechanisms as applied in this programme appear to have served as an expedient in circumstances where hierarchical steering is no longer feasible. This article explains how the governance dilemma of the German Public Employment Service's ‘second tier’ (serving recipients of minimum income benefits) probably triggered the innovative approach so successfully pursued in the programme under consideration. The analysis is concluded by proposing some conceptual clarifications for the long‐standing debate about hierarchies/bureaucracies, markets and networks in the governance of welfare programmes.

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References

1973The Strength of Weak Ties 1993Policy Paradigms, Social Learning, and the State: The Case of Economic Policymaking in Britain 2014Neither market nor hierarchy: Network Forms of Organization 2002Social Capital: Theory and Research 1993Quasi-Markets and Social Policy 1991Quasi-Markets and Social Policy 1991Markets, Hierarchies and Networks: The Coordination of Social Life 1995Model or Metaphor? A Critical Review of the Policy Network Approach

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2017The Vexed Question of Market Stewardship in the Public Sector: Examining Equity and the Social Contract through the Australian National Disability Insurance Scheme 2018From quasi‐markets to public–private networks: Employers' engagement in public employment services 2016Third Sector Experiences of Work Programme Delivery 2019Increasing Employment of Older Workers: Addressing Labour Market Obstacles 2023A persistent ideal of public services networks amid alternative reform strategies: a study over three decades

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