Sowing Seeds of Change Informing Public Policy in the Economic Research Service of USDA (1999) / Chapter Skim
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5 Evaluations as a Framework for Management
5 Evaluations as a Framework for Management
Pages 91-115
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From page 91... ...
None of the later development is possible without first knowing what the services are and how they will be evaluated. EVALUATING ERS PROGRAMS General Guidelines for Program Evaluation Every day individuals and organizations make decisions and choices.
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From page 92... ...
Having determined the best provider of a service, the question of whether that service should be offered at all remains open; evaluation is only the first step in this determination. The evaluation process therefore requires that the service being evaluated be defined, and that alternative providers of the service perhaps including hypothetical providers be identified.
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From page 93... ...
For students, alternative providers of the service include, of course, other professional schools in the same discipline, but, if the service is defined more broadly, alternative providers may include professional schools in other disciplines or, even more generally, other career opportunities. Determining the attributes of postgraduate professional education that underlie choices requires study of a fairly wide group of prospective clients.
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From page 94... ...
Here, the level of user fees for services charged by government agencies complicates the evaluation process. If the private sector also provides the service, then it is important to include price (user fees for the government agency, market price for private suppliers)
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From page 95... ...
farm trade, farm income, production expenses, input use, prices received and paid by farmers, per capita food consumption, and related issues. In addition to this general publication, ERS also regularly publishes S&O reports several times a year for numerous individual commodities and financial measures (examples include Agricultural Income & Finance; International Agriculture & Trade; Cotton and Wool; Feed; Fruit & Tree Nuts; Livestock, Dairy and Poultry; Aquaculture; Oil Crops; Agricultural Exports; Rice; Sugar & Sweet
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From page 96... ...
96 SOWING SEEDS OF CHANGE TABLE 5.1 ERS Staff Analyses: Requests Received during January, 1997 Analysis requested Received Due Sent Provide background on research, education, and analysis 1/2 1/8 1/8 pertaining to global change including responses to specified questions Assemble a list and cost of subscriptions to newspapers, 1/2 1/8 1/8 magazines, other periodicals, and on-line news services Comment on the thesis that declining rice production in the South 1/2 1/10 1/10 has a negative impact on migratory birds and on the environment Review draft GAO report, "Commodity Programs: Despite 1/3 1/8 1/8 Reforms, Some U.S. Prices Will Remain Higher Than World Prices" Comments and suggestions regarding the coverage content of the 1/6 1/15 1/17 Business Expenditures Survey Provide the number of occupied housing units by region and 1/6 1/8 1/8 summarize uses of fuel and uses of electricity Briefing materials relating to the National Cattlemen's Beef 1/7 1/15 1/15 Association Prepare a 3-part briefing paper relating to the domestic supply, 1/7 1/8 1/9 use, and price for dairy over the next year, the international dairy situation re Oceania, EU and GATT commitments, and relation of dairy situation to domestic food assistance Draft response relating to use of lecithin in Mexican electricity 1/7 1/10 1/10 generators Prepare a briefing paper on the propane price issue 1/8 1/9 1/10 Provide a description of the ERS proposed FY 98 global change 1/8 1/8 1/8 program Briefing materials relating to the Pacific Northwest Flooding 1/9 1/9 1/9 Describe the status of assessments of economic impacts of a 1/9 1/13 1/14 worldwide ban on methyl bromide Review the proposed Western Governors Association 1/9 1/14 1/16 memorandum of understanding regarding future management of drought in the west Provide comments, talking points, and guidance on United Nations 1/9 1/28 1/29 Statistical Commission documents Background on the tax income averaging concept and comments 1/10 on the Nick Smith bill 1/17 1/17 Briefing materials relating to Iowa Pork Producers Association 1/10 1/15 1/15 List major Science and Technology related publications issued 1/13 1/16 1/16 by ERS over the 1993-1996 period Discuss the food component of the December Consumer Price Index Identify hot issues that governors might raise at National Governors Association meeting 1/14 1/14 1/14 1/15 1/17 1/17 continues
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From page 97... ...
EVALUATION AS A FRAMEWORK FOR MANAGEMENT TABLE 5.1 Continued 97 Analysis requestedReceived Due Sent Prepare slides of selected charts from briefing handouts and1/15 1/28 1/23 Food Review Provide information on the civilian labor force, employment,1/14 1/16 1/16 unemployment, and unemployment rate for selected countries Prepare draft ERS testimony for the appropriation hearings1/16 1/29 1/28 Update and add/delete Q's and A's for the FY 1998 appropriation1/17 2/18 2/20 hearings ERS witness book Briefing materials relating to data development associated with the1/22 1/22 1/22 new food safety law Provide information on persistent poverty counties and Great1/22 1/31 1/28 Plains Briefing paper on the effect of the January 1997 freeze in Florida1/23 1/23 1/23 vegetable areas Review and comment on "Working Paper Toward a National1/24 1/29 Rural Policy" Briefing materials relating to California vegetable and fruit1/24 1/29 1/29 growers, including any flood-related issues Briefing materials relating to small and minority farmers1/24 2/5 2/5 Provide background information on the Commercial Agricultural1/27 1/30 1/30 Division involvement in the Canada-United States Joint Commission on Grains Briefing information relating to the Southern Rural Sociological1/27 1/30 1/30 Association and emerging roles of Land Grant Universities Review and comment on U.S.-Japan science and technology1/27 2/5 2/3 relations and agreement Briefing materials relating to the winter storms and cold in the1/28 1/29 1/29 Dakotas Update tables for the 1997 Statistical Abstract of the United States1/29 3/14 3/19 List of regional centers, consortia, programs, and projects that1/30 2/6 2/6 ERS supports Review and comment on material for a legislative report on the1/30 1/30 1/31 proposed draft bill on the Treasury Amendment to the Commodity Exchange Act Review and comment on draft FY 1998 "Our Changing Planet"1/30 2/6 2/6 Prepare a white paper on industrial hemp1/31 2/6 2/6 Briefing materials relevant to the National Cotton Council annual1/31 2/7 2/6 meetings in Florida Review and comment on Summary Report on Class I Price1/31 2/4 2/4 Proposals for Milk Marketing Order Reform Source: Staff analysis logs provided to panel by ERS.
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From page 98... ...
TABLE 5.3 Staff Analysis in ERS, 1995-1997 Total Requests 455 456 346 By sourcea REE 60 (13%)
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From page 99... ...
Table 5.4 provides information on the research publications of ERS professional staff. The services of data preparation and analysis and intermediate and long-term research, all in support of public policy, are made available not only to public servants charged directly with policy making, but also to private citizens to whom public policy makers are responsible, and who are free to make use of these services in private decision making.
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From page 104... ...
104 TABLE 5.4 Research Publications of ERS Professional Staff SOWING SEEDS OF CHANGE Staff Publications in Refereed Academic Journals, 1992-1996 Year Number ofArticles Solely Authored Jointly Authored 1992 156 58 98 1993 147 48 99 1994 113 42 71 1995 113 36 77 1996 92 24 68 Total 621 208 413 Most Common Journals, 1992-1996 Journal Number of Articles American Journal of Agricultural Economics Journal of Agricultural Economics Research Canadian Journal of Agricultural Economics Agribusiness Land Economics Agricultural Economics Policy Studies Journal Internal ERS Reports, 1994- 1997 56 29 15 14 14 6 6 Subject Area Number of Reports Agriculture and food policy Agricultural research and development Banking and farm credit Country and regional topics Farm programs Farm sector economics (prices, financial conditions, income, structure) Farmworkers and farm employment Field crops Food (advertising, assistance programs, consumption, costs, marketing, safety, spending)
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From page 105... ...
food and agriculture sector effectively adapts to changing market structure, domestic policy reforms, and post-GATT and post-NAFTA trade conditions. For each objective, there is a statement of strategies for achieving the objective.
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From page 106... ...
The narratives will cover ERS anticipation of issues and the timeliness of output, review prior to release, customer views on relevance and accessibility of ERS analyses, and how ERS analyses contributed to informed decision mak~ng. Evaluating ERS Services The ERS mission statement and the goals, objectives, and performance measures of the ERS strategic plan concentrate on the substance of ERS research and information provision.
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From page 107... ...
food and agriculture sector effectively adapts to changing market structure, domestic policy reforms, and post-GATT and post-NAFTA trade conditions" along the attributes of quality, objectivity, relevance, timeliness, and accessibility, with other actual or hypothetical provid
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From page 108... ...
If one moves to the level of 5- and 10- year projections of agricultural commodity prices, the job is manageable. For a given substantive activity of ERS for example, economic analyses on the linkage between domestic and global food and commodity markets and the implications of alternative domestic policies and programs for competitiveness it may be important to distinguish between intermediate and long-term research, monitoring, reporting, and staff assignments as separate serv~ces.
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From page 109... ...
For example, in the case of 5- and 10-year projections of agricultural commodity prices, the client might indicate that the FAPRI provides projections earlier, but only by regions of the world, whereas ERS provides projections country by country. When a government agency does not charge user fees for its services, it is easy to overlook the cost of the service in question as one of its key attributes.
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From page 110... ...
RECOMMENDATION 5-4. Formal program evaluation instruments should elicit from clients and potential clients their choices among alternative providers and potential providers of the services provided by ERS, and the attributes of the services critical to their choices, including prices.
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From page 111... ...
Characteristics of Individual Performance An aspect of individual performance is consequential to the extent that it directly affects the attributes of services provided by ERS that are identified in the program evaluation process set forth earlier in this chapter. An individual aspect of performance is controllable if the individual has substantial control over that aspect of his or her work.
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From page 112... ...
Since there are many professionals performing similar activities in ERS and other agencies, this aspect of the individual's performance is comparable. In the second case, consider a senior economist with substantial discretion and responsibility for intermediate and long-term research in support of a service provided by ERS: for example, economic analysis of alternative designs for the auction process used in the Conservation Reserve Program, or the synthesis and commissioning of studies on the impact of agricultural policy changes on carbon dioxide emissions.
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From page 113... ...
In each case, it is essential that these evaluators gather information from the widest appropriate sources. Sources include clients for ERS services, external critical evaluators of technical work retained for the purpose, and publications and citations of research.
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From page 114... ...
Comparison with hypothetical alternatives is problematic, and if comparisons are made with specialists in other areas, then sorting out how much of the difference is controllable is likely to be difficult. As a second case, return to the hypothetical example previously set forth in which there is no market for comparison of the CGE model used to address trade and tax policy changes, as there is for academically innovative research papers.
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From page 115... ...
EVALUATION AS A FRAMEWORK FOR MANAGEMENT 115 the appropriate scope of ERS activities, to evaluating the performance of individual professional employees, to management and allocation of programs among potential suppliers, and to meeting ERS responsibilities under the Government Performance and Results Act of 1996. The next two chapters establish the line between the evaluation process and the internal administration and organization of ERS, respectively.
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