Includes bibliographical references and index.

Managing the great recession : a stress test for modern governance / Timothy J. Conlan, Paul L. Posner, and Priscilla M. Regan -- Economic crisis and policy response : the context, design, and politics of the recovery act / Timothy J. Conlan and Paul L. Posner -- A lifeline to struggling states : the state fiscal stabilization fund / Timothy J. Conlan -- The rush to pave : adapting the federal-aid highway network to ARRA / Sheldon M. Edner and Matthew J. Critchfield -- Oh what a tangled web : implementation of broadband assistance grants / Priscilla M. Regan -- Weathering explosive growth : weatherization assistance grants under ARRA / Alan J. Abramson -- A bump in the road : the benefits of established networks for implementing ARRA under the new markets tax credit program / Lehn M. Benjamin -- Governing without networks? Implementing the advanced energy tax credit program / Stefan Toepler and Matthew Sommerfeld -- Accountability under stress : the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 / Paul L. Posner -- Conclusions : networked governance under stress / Paul L. Posner, Timothy J. Conlan, and Priscilla M. Regan.

This book is about the implementation and performance of President Obama's economic stimulus program and how insights from this experience can inform public administration and public policy. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) was an initiative of historic proportions to prop up and stimulate the economy during the Great Recession. There has yet to be a book-length assessment of the ARRA by public administration and public policy scholars. The ARRA had over 200 subprograms that required policy coordination across networks of different levels of government and with nonprofit organizations. The ARRA programs involved either direct spending, grants, or tax credits, and it was a model of transparency and accountability. The scale, complexity, and general success of the ARRA offers lessons for scholars, students, and public managers about the challenges of networked governance, the effects of strong transparency and accountability standards, as well as what types of government intervention were successful and which were not. The authors provide an overview of the ARRA and examine six policy areas in depth.