New from @pamela_herd & I: the Biden administration's loan forgiveness application is so well-designed that it turned an administrative process into a moment of joy.
Governments can and should learn from it. 🧵
nytimes.com/2022/10/23/opi…
Governments can and should learn from it. 🧵
nytimes.com/2022/10/23/opi…
Governments are deeply attuned to failure, something we call negativity bias. This creates vicious cycles of blame avoidance. But if we want better government, we also need to celebrate and learn from successes.
So thanks to NYT for giving us space to write about a success story!
So thanks to NYT for giving us space to write about a success story!
Without much formal promotion 22 million people signed up for a one-off benefit in a week, 8 million during an unannounced beta test period. That is amazing!
It reflects a government devoting time and resources to the unglamorous but vital work of policy implementation.
It reflects a government devoting time and resources to the unglamorous but vital work of policy implementation.
Administrative burdens arise partly via policy design, implementation design choices & administrative resources.
For example, the Biden admin made the process more burdensome by means-testing ($125K limit), but reduced the documentation requirements via self-attestation.
For example, the Biden admin made the process more burdensome by means-testing ($125K limit), but reduced the documentation requirements via self-attestation.
An even less burdensome approach would have been to automatically discharge debt. The Dept of Ed has done
this for borrowers it has income data for. It could do it for all 40M eligible borrowers, but lacks IRS income data.
We need to improve govt data-sharing to reduce burdens.
this for borrowers it has income data for. It could do it for all 40M eligible borrowers, but lacks IRS income data.
We need to improve govt data-sharing to reduce burdens.
One other source of burdens is privatization, which often creates confusion and fragmentation (e.g. private lenders in the PSLF). The beauty of the current student loan relief process is that the borrower is interacting directly with one actor: the government.
Two big points here:
*The quality of the student loan application is not a one-off. Lots of very talented and competent people are trying to make it the norm
*It's not all on them. legislators can reduce or create admin burden in their policy design choices.
*The quality of the student loan application is not a one-off. Lots of very talented and competent people are trying to make it the norm
*It's not all on them. legislators can reduce or create admin burden in their policy design choices.
At the moment, a conservative court has paused the Biden admin's ability to process the applications, which would have started as soon as this weekend. But you can still submit for loan forgiveness while the case is being determined.
studentaid.gov/debt-relief/ap…
studentaid.gov/debt-relief/ap…
If you don't have a subscription, here is an ungated version of our piece about student loan relief here: nytimes.com/2022/10/23/opi…
If you are interested in learning more about administrative burdens and student debt relief, you can sign up for my newsletter. donmoynihan.substack.com
I wrote something about the effects of the de-facto court injunction and what happens next: donmoynihan.substack.com/p/i-wrote-in-t…
I wrote something about the effects of the de-facto court injunction and what happens next: donmoynihan.substack.com/p/i-wrote-in-t…
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