Delegation, Collaborative Governance, and Non-Distributive Policy : The Curious Case of Joint Partnerships in American Federalism

Although Congress often utilizes grants and other fiscal incentives when delegating policy to the states, it also incorporates non-fiscal arrangements, or joint partnerships into legislation. These partnerships include joint state-federal oversight boards, intergovernmental task forces, as well as other non- distributive programs and services. We examine the conditions under which Congress chooses to increase joint partnerships in a formal model of intergovernmental delegation and test the implications of the model on federal laws from 1973-2010. We argue with evidence that Congress may rely on collaborative non-fiscal partnerships with states and localities when technical uncertainty increases, but are less likely to do so when political uncertainty rises. Our theory extends existing models of delegation to provide an important step toward a broader theory of legislatively designed collaborative governance