主要研究 今天

Subsidy welfare programs are critical in ensuring that economically disadvantaged individuals and families can access essential services such as child care, 教育, 医疗保健和住房. 然而, current funds allocation formulas may fail to ensure equitable outcomes across different service areas.   

由 魏魏他是纽约大学决策科学助理教授 彼得?. 保罗经济与商业学院, proposes a novel optimization-based model to help ensure more equitable outcomes.   

在最近的 研究 发表于《永利app新版本官网地址》 & 业务运营管理, researchers applied the optimization-based model to a case 研究 involving the Massachusetts child care subsidy program, 在消除不平等的同时，社会影响增加了3%.    

为了说明公平和平等的区别, 魏描述了三个孩子试图越过围栏观看棒球比赛. 在同等情况下, 每个孩子都有相同数量的砖块站立, 仍然让最矮的孩子看不见. 在公平的情况下, 砖头是根据每个孩子的身高分配的, 确保三个人都能看到比赛.    

“Equity is about ensuring similar levels of societal impact and outcomes across different service areas, 每个领域的资金不均等,魏说.   

States currently use formula-based methods or simple approaches to distribute funds equally or proportionally across different geographies based on factors such as the number of beneficiaries or service providers in each area.   

This approach focuses on providing resources uniformly without considering the unique challenges within each area, 据魏说. 例如, current methods overlook the proportion of providers who accept subsidies versus those who do not. 不同地区这些供应商的比例可能不同, 影响资金使用的有效性.  

另外, current allocation methods don’t consider the effectiveness of different types of investments in each area. 特别是, 在一些地区, investing in training for child care providers might improve care quality significantly, 而在其他国家, investing in outreach to increase the number of providers accepting subsidies might be more beneficial.  

当适用于马萨诸塞州儿童保育补贴计划时, the model addressed these shortfalls and recommended multiple improvements to better balance societal impact across different areas, 包括:  

• Addressing unique needs: Recognizing the needs and challenges of different service areas. 例如, rural areas with fewer child care providers due to lower population densities and greater geographic spread require funding for mobile child care units to reach families in remote locations and incentives and resources to attract more providers to participate in the subsidy program.    
• Urban area challenges: Recognizing that urban areas like Boston face higher operating costs and greater demand for child care services and require funding to cover higher rents, 工资和公用事业.   
• 未来资金对价:对未来潜在资金的核算, 比如来自《永利app新版本官网地址》等项目的联邦拨款, ensuring resources could be distributed efficiently and enabling adjustments based on funding changes and needs.

“We presented our findings to the Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care, 他们对我们的发现很感兴趣,魏说. “希望我们能推动他们采用我们的方法.”  

魏承认这样的改变需要时间, 而且说服利益相关者可能很有挑战性, 包括非营利组织和政府机构, 公平的重要性, 特别是如果目前的资金分配能充分满足他们的需要.    

“Formula-based methods are widely accepted by nonprofit organizations and the government,魏说. “它们很容易使用, and sometimes the outcomes can generate an acceptable level of societal impact and equity.”    

研究人员认为，他们基于优化的模型将确保更大的公平性, creating a balanced and effective system that benefits all areas and families equitably.    

魏与普里扬克·阿罗拉合作进行了这项研究, 南卡罗来纳大学管理科学助理教授, 和Senay Solak, professor of operations and information management at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.    

Future research could expand the model's application to other state subsidy programs to validate its effectiveness in different contexts.