Social policy and operations management

Abstract

This dissertation strengthens planning and policy analysis by using concepts from operations management to examine production and distribution of goods and services for disadvantaged groups. Building on the introduction, chapter two tells a cautionary tale, investigating how scholars and decision makers used operations management methods to consider operations in planning and policy analysis in the 1970s in ways that further marginalized already vulnerable residents. The tools and concepts of operations management, however, if sufficiently framed by concerns about equity and advocacy, are powerful instruments in solving production and distribution problems with social consequences. Chapter three explores how these concepts can be used to descriptively identify disparities in access to goods and services by socio-economic status, examining the distribution of irrigation equipment in Senegal. The core question is about the allocation of risk and inventory across levels of a supply chain that extends far into Senegal's farming regions. Chapter four identifies how these concepts can be used to causally explain disparities, tracing policies and plans that aggregative or ameliorate them. It focuses on the main program that subsidizes affordable housing construction in the United States, a durable necessity that is unevenly available and exposed to environment risks across space. The core question is about patterns over space and time in building affordable housing stocks, relative to where and when disasters occur. Chapter five shows how these concepts can be used to prescriptively remedy disparities. It investigates quality risks in the US international food assistance supply chain in Eastern Africa. The core question is about what levers can be pulled in supply chain design to improve food aid quality. Chapter six concludes.