Public Policy Design.docx

Public Policy Design Policies must be created This is the process of making policies through political processes and technical analysis The policy process creation happens at multiple stages Problems often defined to be solvable with policy actions Must be able to choose between alternatives Desi...

Public Policy Design Policies must be created This is the process of making policies through political processes and technical analysis The policy process creation happens at multiple stages Problems often defined to be solvable with policy actions Must be able to choose between alternatives Design must take future stages into account Implementation must also be part of the thought process How is this going to be done Policy goals and underlying goals Policy Goal: desired outcome of a policy Underlying goal may be the same or broader; Desired social change Ex: Policy goal: Make college more affordable Ex: Underlying goal: We want more people to go to college Usually, underlying goal is broader. What the policy is doing is not the only thing policy makers care about when making policy However, Policies can have competing goals Stone’s four major goals Equity Equality of opportunity Equality of outcome Security Liberty Involves social contracts I will give up my right to do this so that I can be protected Trade liberty for security State of nature vs social contracts Efficiency Truing to maximize benefits or minimize costs Ex: IF a policy is doing well, then it is spending money efficiently OR they are already doing better than the previous goals Reduce budget or increase budget Conflicts may be over policy goals, underlying goals, or both Arguments on ends but not on means Unintended conflict with goals of other policies Causal theory is also necessary to measure outcomes Shapes policy tools Correlation is not causation This is difficult Confounding Variables and unclear casual direction Policy tools are used to get desired outcomes Salamon and Lunds Dimensions of policy tools Dimension (What are we trying to achieve) Nature of activity in which govnermnet is involved We could use outright money payments, look at how services and goods are delivered Indirect delivery Structure of the diviver system Direct: Federal Govnerment is sole actor Indirect: Provision through an intermediary Degree of centralization Centralized: Social security Decentralized: forest service Degree of automacy More automatic: Tax incentives Least automatic; Programs with case workers Types of policy tools: Table 9.2 in your book Ways to enact policy Law Encourage or discourage behavior Services The government provides direct services to the population (TSA, Air traffic controls, Public Parks) Money Transfer payments and grants for Social security, school cafeteria, government personnel costs Taxes Taxes are used to incentivice people to do things (College tax credit) Mortgage income deduction Sin tax (Discourage by making it more expensive Other Loans and loan guarantees Guarantee loans if certain criteria are met so that the bank wont take on all of the risk of someone defaulting on the loan Subsidies Insurance and Underwriting Suasion Convinve people to do things through education Smokey the Bear Elements of policy design: Table 9.1 Element Goals of the policy Is this effective The causal model Is this an effective way to approach this problem The tools of the policy What tools are we going to use The targets of the policy Whose behavior is supposed to change? The implementation of policy Incentives can be very powerful Policy doesn’t happen by itself. It is a policy mosaic Individual policy changes change the entire picture You will change the overall makeup of the environment the policies create Think wholisticly How does this policy fit into the borader framework