Ripple Effects of Law Execution Automation in Governmental Systems

The Wajong Case

Master thesis (2022)

Authors

L.A. Pel Technology, Policy and Management

Contributors

R.I.J. Dobbe (supervisor 1)
I. Nikolic System Engineering - TPM (supervisor 2)
H.G. van der Voort Organisation & Governance - TPM (coach)
Faculty
Technology, Policy and Management
Copyright: © 2022 Laurie Pel
Agent Based Modelling Automated Decision Making Digital Government Ripple Effects System Safety
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Published Date

01-11-2022

Language

English

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Faculty

Technology, Policy and Management

Abstract

The use of Automated Decision Making (ADM) systems in the public sector will become increasingly prevalent in the future, making citizens increasingly likely to be confronted with decisions that have been made fully automatically, without human intervention. Ever more digitization increases the opaqueness of the social benefits system in the Netherlands and leads to citizens facing most of the adverse, sometimes unforeseen effects of automation. Why and how unsafeness and unexpected effects emerge is not well known. In this research, these effects, defined to be ripple effects, are explored using a system safety lens and proposing an agent-based model design to explore why and how the effects emerge.

The leading cause of ripple effects was found to be the lack of a hierarchical safety structure, seen in laws being organized per organization, and the lack of an overarching controller to ensure that overlap does not occur.
This is partly due to a lack of an accurate model representing a Dutch citizen. Several policy recommendations are presented, including a rudimentary set-up on how to apply a safety control structure within the social benefits system.