Governing under Stress : The Implementation of Obama's Economic Stimulus Program

This book is about the implementation and performance of President Obama’s economic stimulus program and how insights from this experience can inform public administration and public policy. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) was an initiative of historic proportions to prop up and stimulate the economy during the Great Recession. There has yet to be a book-length assessment of the ARRA by public administration and public policy scholars. The ARRA had over 200 subprograms that required policy coordination across networks of different levels of government and with nonprofit organizations. The ARRA programs involved either direct spending, grants, or tax credits, and it was a model of transparency and accountability. The scale, complexity, and general success of the ARRA offers lessons for scholars, students, and public managers about the challenges of networked governance, the effects of strong transparency and accountability standards, as well as what types of government intervention were successful and which were not. The authors provide an overview of the ARRA and examine six policy areas in depth.