Information Systems Research Forum

Information Technology, Organization, and Productivity in the Public Sector: Evidence from Police Departments

Luis Garicano
Director of Research at the Department of Management (LSE) and Associate at the Centre for Economic Performance

Thursday 30 October 2008 1200 - 1330

New Academic Building, Alumni Theatre, LG.09

Read the paper by Luis Garicano and Paul Heaton

We examine how information technology (IT) contributes to organizational change, labor
demand, and improved productivity in the public sector using a new panel data set of police
departments covering 1987-2003. While IT adoption is associated with increased
administrative and organizational complexity and use of more highly educated officers, IT
itself does not appear to enhance crimefighting effectiveness. These results are robust to
various methods for controlling for agency-level characteristics and the endogeneity of IT
use. IT investments do, however, appear to improve police productivity when complemented
with particular management practices–in this case, those associated with the Compstat
program.

If you are a visitor from outside LSE, please send a confirmation to c.m.bonina@lse.ac.uk. You will need to sign in at the reception desk of the New Academic Building. Please note places will be available on a first-come-first-serve basis - registration is not required for LSE students and staff.

For any further queries regarding this seminar or to request information about future events please contact Frances White. Research Coordinator.

page last updated 09 October, 2008

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