Membership Balance, Open Meetings, and Effectiveness in Federal Advisory Committees

Abstract

This article attempts to measure the determinants of federal advisory committee (FAC) effectiveness, with special focus on membership balance and meeting openness. Although these two topics have dominated the legal literature on FACs, no study has provided quantitative estimates of their impact on committees. This article fills the gap by analyzing data from a General Accounting Office survey of committee members in 1998, and supplements this with evidence from individual interviews. It concludes that openness predictably impairs perceived committee effectiveness but that balanced membership improves perceived committee effectiveness. Moreover, it finds these effects comparable in magnitude to other major administrative variables that affect perceived committee effectiveness.