Types of Administrative Burden Reduction Strategies: Who, What and How

This article contributes to the growing body of research on administrative burdens by providing a theoretically- and empirically-driven typology of governments’ burden reduction strategies. Despite the mounting interest in burden reduction, the literature still lacks a typology for systematically identifying and classifying such strategies. The article identifies three analytical dimensions of burden reduction: distributive (who bears the burden), intensiveness (what the level of burden is), and relational (how burden is experienced in bureaucratic encounters). Based on these dimensions, and drawing on a systematic analysis of the case of social security in Israel, we identify, define and characterize seven distinct strategies of burden reduction: shifting, sharing, discarding, simplifying, expediting, communicating, and respecting. The article concludes with a discussion of these strategies, their applicability, practical implications, and directions for the research agenda on burden reduction.