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Evaluating Equity in Social Policy

A Framework for Comparative Analysis

Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration, Austria, august.oesterle{at}wu-wien.ac.at

This article proposes a framework for the systematic comparative analysis of equity in social policy design. Equity research concentrates on theories of justice, on empirical studies on equity beliefs or on testing specific equity interpretations. Less attention is paid to the range of equity objectives and how equity concerns are translated into social policy practice. This article, therefore, starts from three dimensions that constitute equity. Focusing on these dimensions — resources, recipients and principles — recognizes the complexity of equity and allows an identification and clarification of explicit and implicit equity interpretations. The approach contributes to goal-focused evaluation and helps in various evaluation approaches to investigate the range of equity concerns in social policy design. Long-term care policies are used to illustrate the concept and to discuss the potential of the approach in social policy evaluation.

Key Words: equity objectives • long-term care • resource allocation • welfare state

Evaluation, Vol. 8, No. 1, 46-59 (2002)
DOI: 10.1177/1358902002008001516


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