Inexhaustible demand removes the penalty for losing disaffected clients

Evidence

Sometimes street-level bureaucracies are even rewarded for reducing their clientele. Public welfare agencies in the United States come under criticism for their large number of clients, although a public agency that reached less than half the eligible population in other contexts might be regarded as a colossal failure. At other times street-level bureaucracies are indifferent to the loss of clients or client dissatisfaction. Partly this is due to a proposition developed earlier. If demand for services is practically inexhaustible relative to supply, then the fact that some clients are disaffected by the quality or level of service means only that their places are taken by others who need the service and are willing to accept the costs of seeking it. — Michael Lipsky, Street-Level Bureaucracy, 427

Categorization

• recurring: this claim recurs 2 times within its source
• XREF: connects to: Protective routines get distorted to minimize client contact and drop cases — Michael Lipsky, Street-Level Bureaucracy: Dilemmas of…, 741; Protected sellers lose the reputational penalty for cheating unprotected buyers — Diego Gambetta, The Sicilian Mafia The Business of…, 69

Broader Connections

• Protected sellers lose the reputational penalty for cheating unprotected buyers #corroborates (0.95) — Diego Gambetta, The Sicilian Mafia The Business of…, 69
• Protective routines get distorted to minimize client contact and drop cases #exemplifies (0.80) — Michael Lipsky, Street-Level Bureaucracy, 741