Models of Policy Analysis

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Models of Policy Analysis

• Simply and clarify
• Identify important aspects of policy problems
• Help us to communicate
• Direct efforts to understand public policy better
• Suggest explanations and predict consequences

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Selected Policy Models

• Process Model
• Rational Model
• Incremental Model
• Group Model
• Elite Model
• Public Choice Model
• Institutional Model
• Game Theory Model
• Each model provides a separate focus on political
  life and helps to understand different things
  about public policy.

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Institutional Model Public Policy is
Institutional Output.

• Public Policy is determined, implemented, and
  enforced by government institutions.
• The Constitution of the U.S. establishes the
  fundamental institutional structure for policy
  making.
• Separation of powers, checks and balances, and
  federalism have effects on public policy.

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Process Model

• Political activities may be groups according to
  their relationship with public policy the
  result is a set of policy processes including
• Problem Identification/Recognition
• Agenda Setting
• Policy Formulation
• Policy Adoption
• Policy Implementation
• Policy Evaluation

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The Policy-Making Process

• Public policy is government action or inaction
  taken to deal with problems and concerns.

Policy Adoption
Problem Recognition
Budgeting
Agenda Setting
Policy Implementation
Policy Formulation
Policy Evaluation
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Rationalism Policy as Maximum Social Gain

• Rational policies are defined as those that
  achieve maximum social gain.
• Policy results in gains to society that exceed
  costs and that governments refrain from policies
  if costs exceed benefits.
• There are many barriers to rationality, and the
  model helps us to identify such barriers.
• Obstacles to rationality are many and varied.

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Incrementalism Policy as Variations on the
Past.(Charles Lindblom)

• Incrementalism occurs due to constrains of time,
  information, and costs, leading policy makers to
  make adjustments to the base policy rather than
  embarking upon a full reconsideration of
  alternatives.
• Incrementalism predicts that the legitimacy of
  previous policies will be accepted because the
  consequences of new programs cannot be predicted
• Incrementalism is politically expedient.
• Incrementalism reduces conflicts, maintains
  stability, and preserves the political system.

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Group Theory- Interaction among groups is the
central fact of politics

• The task of the political system is to manage
  groups conflict by
• Establishing rules of the game in group struggle
• Arranging compromises and balancing interests
• Enacting compromises in the form of public policy
• Enforcing these compromises

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Elite Theory Policy as Elite Preference

• Society is divided into the few who have power
  and the many who do not.
• The many who do not have power do not decide
  public policy.
• Public policy reflects the prevailing values of
  the elite, changes will therefore be incremental
  rather than revolutionary.
• Elites influence masses more than masses
  influence elites.

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Public Choice Theory Policy as Collective
Decision Making by Self-Interested Individuals

• Political actors seek to maximize their personal
  benefits in politics as well as in the
  marketplace
• Government must remedy certain market failures
  by providing public goods
• Externalities are another recognized market
  failure and justification for government
  intervention

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Game Theory Policy as Rational Choice in
Competitive Situations

• Game theory is the study of rational decisions in
  situations in which two or more participants have
  choices to make and the outcome depends on the
  choices made by each.
• The best outcome in game theory depends upon what
  others do.
• Decision makers are involved in choices that are
  interdependent.
• Decision makers must adjust their conduct to
  reflect their own desires and also their
  expectations about what others will do.

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Models How to Tell if They are Helping or Not

• Models should order and simplify reality
• Models should identify what is significant
• Models should provide meaningful communication
• Models should direct inquiry and research
• Models should suggest explanations

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The Policy Process How Policies are Made

• In the real world policymaking activities often
  occur simultaneously and political actors and
  institutions may be engaged in different
  processes at the same time, even in the same
  policy area.
• Despite the fact that policymaking is seldom as
  neat as a process model, it is useful to break
  policymaking into component units to enhance
  understanding

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Identifying Policy Issues Problem Recognition
Public Opinion

• Debate continues as to whether public opinion
  should be an important independent influence over
  public policy
• Opinion-Policy Linkage - V.O. Key

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Identifying Policy Issues Problem Recognition
Elite Opinion

• Elite preference are more likely to be in
  accord with public policy than mass preferences
• Public policy runs contrary to mass opinion as
  least one-third of the time

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Agenda Setting and Nondecisions

• Agenda setting, or defining the problems of
  society and suggesting alternative solutions, is
  the most important stage of the policy making
  process.
• Nondecision making occurs when dominant elites
  act either openly or covertly to suppress an
  issue.

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Agenda setting and mobilizing Opinion The Mass
Media

• Media effects include
• Identifying issues and setting the agenda
• Influencing attitudes and values toward policy
  issues
• Changing the behavior of voters and decision
  makers

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Formulating Policy

• The White House
• Interest Groups
• Legislative Staff
• Think Tanks

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Policy Legitimation/Adoption

• Formal lawmaking
• Party Influence
• Presidential Influence
• Constitituency Influence
• Contributor Influence

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Policy Implementation The Bureaucracy

• Implementation and Policymaking
• Regulation and Policymaking
• Adjudication and Policymaking
• Bureaucratic Discretion and Policymaking
• Policy Bias of Bureaucrats

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Policy Evaluation Impressionistic Versus
Systematic

• Although the policy process model implies that
  evaluation is the final step, an evaluation of
  the current policy may identify new problems and
  set in motion the policymaking process once
  again.
• Most policy evaluations are unsystematic and
  impressionistic
• Systematic policy evaluation the careful,
  objective, scientific assessment f the current
  and long-term effects of policies on target and
  nontarget situations or groups, and the
  assessment of the ratio of current and long-term
  costs to benefits is relatively rare.