New development: The paradox of outcomes—the more we measure, the less we understand

Toby Lowe

Public Money & Management, 2013, vol. 33, issue 3, 213-216

Abstract: The use of ‘outcomes’ as a concept to measure the effectiveness of social policy interventions is inherently flawed and creates unwelcome paradoxes. This article explains why, instead of improving the lives of those who receive support, a focus on outcome information distorts both the priorities and practice of organizations who deliver such support, resulting in poorer results for those most in need. It provides an important first stage towards the evolution of new ways of conceptualizing ways to create improvements in social policy delivery.

Date: 2013
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/09540962.2013.785707 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:pubmmg:v:33:y:2013:i:3:p:213-216

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/RPMM20

DOI: 10.1080/09540962.2013.785707

Access Statistics for this article

Public Money & Management is currently edited by Michaela Lavender

More articles in Public Money & Management from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().