OR Practice—Computer-Based Models for Policy Making: Uses and Impacts in the U.S. Federal Government

Kenneth L. Kraemer and John Leslie King
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Kenneth L. Kraemer: University of California, Irvine, California
John Leslie King: University of California, Irvine, California

Operations Research, 1986, vol. 34, issue 4, 501-512

Abstract: This paper examines factors influencing implementation and use of computer models that have been successfully institutionalized as part of federal policy-making. It is based upon detailed case studies of two kinds of models that have been widely assimilated and used in federal agencies—microanalytic simulation models and macroeconomic models. It concludes that the most important influences on successful modeling are the means to do modeling (supply factors) and the desire of bureaucrats and politicians to use model-generated information (demand factors). Of these, demand factors are most important. The availability and promotion of computer models alone is insufficient to generate use, whereas their political saliency is critical. Thus, where the means to do modeling are weak, but the desire to use models is strong, government agencies invest heavily in the creation of new modeling efforts.

Keywords: 251 implementation and acceptance; 504 managerial and political use of models (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1986
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:inm:oropre:v:34:y:1986:i:4:p:501-512

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