Public Policy and its various prospectss

Public Policy and its various prospects

1. PUBLIC POLICY

2. Nature of Public Policy and Process Some Public Policy Definitions Traditional Views

3. SOME PUBLIC POLICY DEFINITIONS SOME DEFINITIONS : In any society, governmental entities enact laws, make policies, and allocate resources. This is true at all levels. Public policy can be generally defined as a system of laws, regulatory measures, courses of action, and funding priorities concerning a given topic promulgated by a governmental entity or its representatives .

4. SOME PUBLIC POLICY DEFINITIONS Public policy is an attempt by a government to address a public issue by instituting laws, regulations, decisions, or actions pertinent to the problem at hand. Numerous issues can be addressed by public policy including crime, education, foreign policy, health, and social welfare. The process to create a new public policy typically follows three steps: agenda- setting , option- formulation , and implementation ; the time- line for a new policy to be put in place can range from weeks to several years, depending on the situation.

5. Nature and Scope of Public Policy “The authoritative allocation of values for a society.” “The process of deciding who gets what, when, where and how.” “What the government chooses to do or not to do about a specific problem.” Establish the boundaries of our freedoms & color the contours of our interactions with other people in our political, social & economic systems

6. TRADITIONAL VIEWS Woodrow Wilson, who is arguably the father of modern public administration, contends, “public policy is the laws and regulations which are made by legislative statesmen and implemented by public administration personnel” (as cited in Wu Qiyuan, 1985, p. 4). This definition is obviously characterized by “the dichotomy between politics and administration,” which narrows the scope and limits the range of public policy makers. First, public policy includes not only laws and regulations, but also government’s plans, instructions, decisions, and other symbolic systems. Secondly, those who participate in the making of public policy include not only statesmen, but also representatives of citizens, experts, and scholars. Especially in the modern era of the “administrative state” (Waldo, 1984), with the sharp expansion of governmental function and the wide application of administrative judicial rights, executive authorities’ participation in making public policy has increased steadily

7. TRADITIONAL VIEWS Harold Lasswell and Abraham Kaplan (1970) define public policy as “a projected program of goals, values, and practices”. The aforementioned definition confuses public policy with programs, making the latter seem overly extensive. A program can be public policy, but not all public policies are programs. As has been pointed out, public policy also includes instructions, decisions, laws, regulations, and other symbolic systems that government sends out.

8. TRADITIONAL VIEWS Thomas R. Dye (1987) thinks, “Public policy is whatever governments choose to do or not to do”. Dye focuses not only on government action, but also on government inaction, and therefore, his definition shows the obvious character of behavioralism. It reflects the practical discipline quality of public policy analysis. “Action” means that government takes measures or uses symbols openly in order to solve some public problem. “Inaction” means that government does not take measures or express active symbols, abiding by the principle of noninterference. Both are important solutions to public problems.

9. TRADITIONAL VIEWS Robert Eyestone (1971) defines public policy most extensively. He states, “In a broad sense, public policy is the relationship between governmental organs and their environment”. It is evident that Eyestone is influenced by the science of ecological administration. Indeed, public policy is the function of a governmental system and its living environment, namely P = F (G, E) (here, P refers to public policy, G refers to governmental system, and E refers to the living environment).

10. Public Policy as a Study – A Brief History Dye (1995) said that certain theoretical approaches and models have been introduced in studying public policy which include institutional, process, group, elite, rational, incremental, game theory, public choice and systems model.

11. Approaches to Public Policy Analycentric focuses on individual problems and their solutions; its scope is the micro-scale and its problem interpretation is usually of a technical nature Policy Process puts its focal point onto political processes and involved stakeholders; its scope is the meso -scale and its problem interpretation is usually of a political nature Meta- policy Approach systems and context approach; i.e., its scope is the macro- scale and its problem interpretation is usually of a structural nature

12. Policy Stream Policy Formulation Legitimation Implementation Evaluation Agenda

13. Policy Stream Agenda Actual performance during the preceding year New developments and emerging issues in the local and international economies Shifts in the policy emphasis of the administration Policy Formulation Econometric Models Input-Output Analysis Accounting Frameworks Project Evaluation and Prioritization Legitimation Medium- Term Development Plan (MTDP) State-of-the-Nation Address (SONA) Implementation Forge a consensus at the pre-implementation phase since it is the different departments who are actually tasked to implement the various programs stipulated in the MTPDP and other policy declarations Evaluation Feedback and monitoring mechanisms through its attached agencies

14. Problems and Criticisms New Influence Players Catholic Church – with two EDSAs’ to their credit Mass Media – compelling instrument to manipulate and /or direct public opinion Civil Society – takes it upon themselves to rise up and partake of the largesse of power

15. “A problem well formulated is a problem half solved.”

16. We want to learn how to look at problems from multiple perspectives to achieve the best problem definition and possible / feasible solutions

17. THE ANALYSIS OF PUBLIC POLICY

18. Chapter 1: The Meaning of Policy Analysis "Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many. Do not believe in anything simply because it is found written in your religious books. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders. Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations. But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it." Gautama Siddharta, the Buddha

19. Introduction “… my way is to divide half a sheet of paper by a line into two columns; writing over the one Pro and over the other Con…If…thus proceeding I find... where the balance lies… I come to a determination accordingly…. I have found great advantage from this kind of equation, in what may be called moral or prudential algebra.” Benjamin Franklin At the most general level, efforts to weigh the benefits and costs of a public or private decision involve some version of the economic analysis presented in this book. At a basic level, this decision process can take the form of a list of pluses and minuses, as in the quote from Benjamin Franklin, or a list of factors favoring one choice over another. At a more advanced level, this rational decision process can include efforts to measure all relevant benefits and costs using a common scale such as dollars in order to determine course of action that maximizes the difference between the total benefits and costs of the choice.

20. Your Turn 1-1: The Benefits and Costs of a College Education Your Turn 1-1: Create a list of the benefits and costs of attending college versus getting a job. Include benefits that will occur in the future as well as the present, effects on others and on society as a whole as well as yourselves, and non-monetary as well as financial benefits and costs. After making some judgment about which benefits and costs are most important, do your expected benefits outweigh your costs? Do the benefits to others, including your parents and your government, of your college education outweigh their costs? Perhaps the questions raised by this exercise are more important than any judgment.

21. Some Policy Analysis Questions (1) Are the total benefits of this policy choice greater than the total costs? ( 2) Does this policy offer greater net benefits (total benefits – total costs) than another alternative? ( 3) How large a budget is required for this policy? A detailed benefit-cost analysis of policy alternatives can help one to answer such questions.

22. Non-Marketed Benefits and Costs Benefit-cost analysis attempts to estimate dollar values for all benefits and costs, even when the good in question is never actually bought or sold. For example, the benefits of a new section of highway include time savings for travelers due to the lessening of congestion. Costs include construction spending, the loss of the benefits of alternative projects, added noise, increased danger from higher speeds, and an increase in “road kill ”. Policy analysis often relies on estimated dollar values for judging benefits and costs even when market prices are not available.

23. The Goals of Public Policy

24. Efficiency According to economic theory, a society achieves allocative efficiency if it provides the greatest possible level of well-being for society given a limited set of resources . At the level of individual policy, efficiency is generally translated into maximizing the difference between the total benefits and total costs of that policy . While the economic theory of efficiency is well established, applying efficiency concepts to policy issues often involves significant challenges when defining and measuring benefits and costs . Also, the goal of efficiency may conflict with other policy goals such as equity or fairness, producing legitimate debate among those on different sides of the issue.

25. Equity As a goal of public policy, equity generally involves the pursuit of one or more broad goals such as income equality, minimum standards of treatment, or freedom. As with efficiency, determining a policy’s ability to meet equity goals can be difficult, and conflict between ethical and other policy goals presents a frequent challenge for policy makers . Furthermore, there are many ethical theories with conflicting conclusions and policy prescriptions . The lack of an accepted ethical paradigm for policy analysis tends to lessen the practical importance of ethical theory, yet the view of this book is that ethical goals provide an important basis for weighing the legitimacy of competing policy proposals.

26. Political Practicality A policy will be politically practical if it has sufficient support to be passed into law and practice by the legislative and administrative branches of government. Political practicality also involves meeting the broader rules and norms of government, such as the United States Constitution or British Common Law, in order to survive a possible judicial review. In addition to passing constitutional review by the courts, a successful policy must achieve popular and legislative support in order to pass into the legal code, and must then be effectively administered or enforced in order to have a significant effect on the public.

27. Steps in Policy Analysis, U.S. Office of Management and Budget ( 1) State the policy rationale, or the goal of the policy, ( 2) explicitly state the assumptions used in the analysis, ( 3) evaluate alternatives , including different program sizes, program methods, and public sector involvement, ( 4) identify and measure benefits and costs , and ( 5) verify results through follow-up studies.

28. Steps in Policy Analysis: Eugene Bardach (1 ) define the problem , ( 2) assemble evidence , ( 3) select criteria for making the decision , ( 4) construct alternatives , ( 5) predict the outcome of each alternative , ( 6) confront the tradeoffs , ( 7) make recommendations , and ( 8) tell your story .

29. Comparing the Two Visions of the Policy Process These two lists of steps overlap in several ways. For example, stating a policy rationale generally requires one to identify the problem being addressed and how the policy will reduce or eliminate that problem. Explicitly stating one’s assumptions is part of defining the problem and the criteria for judging alternative solutions . The primary difference in the two lists is that the OMB procedures do not include policy recommendations.

30. Views of Government and the Roles of the Policy Analyst

31. The “Progressive Neutral Expert” Nelson’s first role for the policy analyst is the “progressive neutral expert” (Nelson, p. 52) . This role is based on the progressive era’s view that the administration of government should be above corrupting interests and based on sound management principles (see Wilson, 1941 reprint). The progressive era extends from the late 19th century to roughly World War I. In this vision of government, the rational analysis of policy has a powerful role in determining government’s course of action.  

32. The “Entrepreneur for Efficiency” Robert Nelson’s second role for the policy economist is labeled the “entrepreneur for efficiency” (p. 54). The entrepreneur for efficiency conducts policy analysis and also actively promotes economics or efficiency-based policy designs. This more active role for the analyst is based on a newer theory of government behavior that was developed in the 1950s. This view sees government, and particularly the legislative process, as a struggle among competing groups promoting their own self-interest (Truman).

33. The “Ideological Combatant” Nelson’s third role for the government economist is the “ ideological combatant” . This role is based on the idea that ideology as well as self-interest guide policymakers, and that the battle of ideas may be as important as the battle of interests in determining public policy.

34. Advocacy and Analysis In the context of competing interests and ideals, conflict often exists between relatively objective analysis and political advocacy. An advocate is one who “pleads the cause of another” or “supports any cause by argument” (Webster). In the case of public policy, advocacy involves the support of a specific policy goal or point of view, and the political advocate also tends to act by building a case for one side of even the most debatable policy proposals. Advocates for a particular viewpoint on a debatable are likely to be biased in a number of ways, and being able to identify these sources of bias is crucial if a student is going to be able to think critically and objectively about policy.

35. Interdisciplinary Analysis An effective policy analyst must be able to trade ideas with engineers, other social scientists , scientists, lawyers, government officials, and the general public. For example, the analysis of highways or mass transit systems requires input from transportation engineers, while the analysis of crime policy may require input from criminologists with backgrounds in sociology or other social sciences, as well as experts in law enforcement. Informed discussions of environmental policy require information from biological, chemical, geological or environmental scientists. In addition, communication with public administrators, elected officials, and other interested parties is essential to the effectiveness of policy analysis, in part because one or more of these groups is probably sponsoring the analysis, and also because they have an active role in implementing legislation or regulations related to the policy in question.

36. Critical Thinking as a Policy Tool

37. Analytical Models Analytical models provide the crucial definitions and logic that are part of most well-constructed arguments. These models may be based on social science, physical or biological science, legal scholarship, moral philosophy, or other academic fields. Any analytical model will contain the following components; (1) initial assumptions and value judgments, (2) definitions of terms, (3) causal relationships, and (4) logical conclusions. Models usually are judged on their ability to explain, predict, or productively guide human actions. In the social sciences the conclusions of theoretical models take the form of predictions about human behavior or the effects of policy alternatives.

38. Assumptions Assumptions are stated or unstated value judgments, definitions, and interpretations of fact that are usually made without supporting evidence . The role of assumptions in an analytical model is to simplify and focus the analysis. For example, economists often assume that markets are competitive and efficient unless otherwise noted. Similarly , Marxists assume a set of social relations between classes that include elements of oppression and exploitation of the working class. Finally analysis based on race, class, gender, or other categories of the population implicitly assumes that members of a given group are similar enough to be analyzed without explicit reference to individual differences.

39. Types of Evidence: Case Studies A case study involves a detailed evaluation of an individual person, firm, industry, or geographic area. Case studies are deliberately limited in scope in order to emphasize detailed information. The primary weakness of the case study is its inability to answer a few fundamental questions about a policy problem. Most obviously, case studies are inherently incapable of identifying how frequently a problem occurs. T he broader causes and effects of a policy problem, such as total costs or global impacts, cannot be addressed thoroughly through case studies. Also, the subjects of case studies might be chosen in a biased manner and therefore may be misleading or unrepresentative.

40. Types of Evidence: Expert Opinion Expertise is usually measured by one’s academic degrees, publication record, and experience. However , an expert’s opinions can be subject to the same ideological bias as those of a common citizen or politician, and can be analyzed using the same types of questions. For example, is an expert’s conclusion typical of research in that area? Is her argument fully supported by logic and evidence, or is it weak in one or both respects? Such questions help guide one’s critical thinking about any issue. When one considers a literature review of a policy topic, he or she should pay attention to the range of results in addition to the typical median estimate.

41. Types of Evidence: Official Statistics Statistics from government agencies and other public and private organizations provide another prime source of evidence for public policy analysis and debate . Their primary strength is their ability to identify the frequency or breadth of a problem based on large samples of the population. The controversies surrounding government statistics are more likely to be based on their definitions or their use by advocates more often than their measurement accuracy.

42. An example: Unemployment A person is considered unemployed if she is not currently working for pay but is actively seeking employment. Similarly, a person is counted as in the labor force if he is either working at least one hour per week for pay or in a family business, or is actively looking for work. In other words, the labor force is made up of two groups, the employed and the unemployed. Your Turn 1-2: Based on the previous paragraph, answer the following questions: (1) If a lawyer is currently working as a cashier at K-Mart, is she counted as unemployed? (2) Is someone who wants to work full-time but only works one hour per week unemployed? (3) Is a full time student who is not currently working for pay unemployed? (4) Are you currently unemployed ? Individuals who are not actively looking for work but would take a job if offered are called either marginally attached workers or discouraged workers , depending on their reason for not actively searching for work, and are now measured separately by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

43. The Presentation of Statistics One might discuss unemployment, poverty, profits, or virtually any statistic as a total number or as a percentage of some larger sum. Your Turn 1-3: Consider these statements based on the 2014 Congressional Budget Office report on a proposed minimum wage increase to $10.10 per hour: A) Raising the minimum wage from $7.25 to $10.10 will decrease employment by 500,000 jobs. (B) Raising the minimum wage by one dollar will decrease U.S. employment by only one third of one percent. Which piece of evidence sounds more reasonable to you? Why? Beware the big number . In a large economy billions of Euros or thousands of people do not always represent socially significant sums.

44. Correlation does not Prove Causation Another common fallacy in the use of evidence is to assume that when two events are correlated, one event caused the other. This is referred to as post-hoc, propter-hoc analysis , or false cause reasoning . Proving a cause and effect relationship requires a combination of theory and evidence, and cannot be accomplished through a statistical correlation alone. A less than scientific model of stock prices is the Super Bowl theory , which predicts that a victory by the U.S. football’s National Football Conference leads to rising stock prices. As of 2014 this theory has been correct 33 out of 41 times.   This is not taken seriously by anybody, but it does provide an example of false cause reasoning.

45. Critical Thinking about Policy Analysis Three common critiques of benefit-cost analysis relate to the utilitarian philosophy that underlies the benefit-cost model, the appropriateness of assigning dollar values to non-marketed goods, and objections to the microeconomic foundations of benefit-cost analysis. I nstitutional and radical economists are likely to argue that markets are dominated more by power and oppression than by supply and demand (Dorman). If so, measuring benefits and costs on the basis of market concepts is likely to be misdirected and inaccurate. Another objection to benefit-cost analysis arises from populists, who consider the desires of the people to be the primary basis for policy. According to this view any expert analysis may be considered somewhat anti-democratic.