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Balancing response... without simply retreating

I've seen several studies that examine whether "balancing response" with respect to a set of covariates available on the frame can lead to reductions in nonresponse bias. Most of the studies indicate that more balanced response is associated with less nonresponse bias.

However, there is a strategy for balancing response that worries me a bit -- reducing the response rates of the groups that have the highest response rates and, thereby, reducing the overall response rate.

Why does this worry me? Several reasons. First, when does this work? We have some studies that show reductions in bias. The studies that show increases in bias might be suppressed due to publication bias. So, how are we supposed to know when it works and when it doesn't?

Second, it's easy to reduce response rates. It's harder to raise them. What's worse, once we reduce response rates, how do we ever get back the skills required for obtaining higher response rates.

Maybe we are simply living in a period of retreat. But I'd like to think we can take some (small?) steps forward. For example, Luiten and Schouten increased balance of response without reducing response rate and for only a small (2.6%) increase in budget. They don't attach sampling error to the cost estimates, but I'm guessing that in the next iteration of the survey, the costs might have been equal. That's at least a step forward.
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