Policy Analysis Flashcards
Why do policy analysis?
Need for thoughtful impartial assessment
Avoid “shooting from the hip”
Think seriously about problems and
solutions
is a process through which one identifies and evaluates alternative policies or programs that are intended to lessen or resolve social, economic, or physical problems.
Policy Analysis
It is also an applied discipline, which uses multiple methods of inquiry and argument to produce and transform policy-relevant information that may be utilized in political settings to resolve public problems.
Policy Analysis
A type of policy analysis that occurs after the fact, is descriptive and evaluative (ADE)
Ex post, post hoc, or
retrospective policy
analysis
- also known as supportive analysis
A type of policy analysis that occurs before the fact, is predictive and prescriptive (BPP)
Ex ante, pre hoc,
prospective analysis
- Also know as DECISIONAL
ANALYSIS
SIX STEP POLICY ANALYSIS
- Define the problem: Verify,
define, and detail the problem - Establish evaluation criteria
- Identify alternative policies
- Evaluation alternative policies
- Display and distinguish
among alternative
policies - Monitoring the implemented policy
is the likelihood of achieving policy goals and objectives or demonstrated achievement of them. It is limited by our capacities to estimate uncertain projections of future events and to link the policy and anticipated outcomes in a causal relationship.
Effectiveness
entails an assessment of achieving program goals or providing benefits in relation to costs. It can mean either least cost for a given benefit or largest benefit for a given cost.
Efficiency
Encourages analysts to think about overall costs and benefits of existing programs and alternative proposals to change them or substitute something different.
Efficiency
Serves as a way of justifying government action on the basis of economic concepts, often expressed in terms of relative virtues of government intervention and the operation of a free market in promoting social welfare.
Efficiency
refers to fairness or justice in the
distribution of a policy’s cost, benefits, and
risks across population subgroups.
Equity
is likely to be central to any consideration of redistributive policies, such as tax reform, access to education and health services, and assistance to low-income persons and families. It invariably arises in any policy area where debate and decisions turn on who gains and who loses as a consequence of adopting a policy and modifying an existing policy.
Equity
refers to the likelihood that a department or agency can implement the policy or deliver the program well. It entails an assessment of a department’s or agency’s capacity, a projection of available resources and agency behavior that may be difficult to estimate.
Administrative feasibility
refers to the likelihood that a policy would be adopted—that is, the extent to which elected officials accept and support a policy proposal. It can be difficult to determine, contingent in part on perceptions of related issues, changing economic and political conditions, and the climate of opinion about related issues.
Political Feasibility
refers to the extent to which the public at large will accept and support a policy proposal. Whether the public views a policy or program as appropriate and responsive can be difficult to determine, even when public support can be measured.
Social acceptability
refers to the extent to which the intervention has generated or is expected to generate significant positive or negative, intended or unintended, higher-level effects.
- WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES THE
INTERVENTION MAKE?
Impact
the extent to which the net benefits of the intervention continue, or are likely to continue.
- WILL THE BENEFITS LAST?
Sustainability
The extent to which the
intervention objectives and design respond to beneficiaries, global, country, and partner/institution needs, policies, and
priorities, and continue to do so if
circumstances change.
- IS THE INTERVENTION DOING THE
RIGHT THINGS?
Relevance
- State the problem
meaningfully - Determine the magnitude and
extent of the problem - Continually re-define the
problem in light of what is
possible - Eliminate irrelevant material
- Question the accepted
thinking about the problem - Question initial formulations of
the problem - Say it with data
- Locate similar policy analyses
- Locate relevant sources of
data - Eliminate ambiguity
- Clarify objectives
- Resolve conflicting goals
- Focus on the central, critical
factors - Is it important? Is it unusual?
Can it be solved? - Identify who is concerned
parties have? - What power do concerned
parties have?
Verify, Define And Detail The Problem
- What are the important
policy goals, and how will
they be measured? - Identify criteria central to
the problem and relevant
to the stakeholders - Clarify goals, values and
objectives - Identify desirable and
undesirable outcomes - Is there a rank order of
importance among the
criteria? What will be the
rules for comparing
alternatives? - Administrative Ease
- Costs and benefits
- Effectiveness
- Equity
- Legality
- Political acceptability
Establish Evaluation Criteria
- Consider a wide range of options
- Consider the status quo, or no-action
alternative - Consult with experts
- Brainstorming, delphi, scenario writing
- Redefine the problem if necessary
Identify Alternative Policies
- Select appropriate methods and apply them correctly
- Estimate expected outcomes, effects, and impacts of each policy alternative
- Do the predicted outcomes meet the desired goals?
- Can some alternatives be quickly discarded
- Continue in-depth analysis of alternatives that make the first cut
Assess Alternative Policies
- Choose a format for display
- Show strengths and weaknesses of each
alternative - Describe the best and worst case scenario for each alternative
- Use matrices, reports, lists, charts,
scenarios, arguments
Display and Distinguish Among
Alternatives
- Draw up a plan for implementation
- Design monitoring system
- Suggest design for policy evaluation
- Was the policy properly implemented?
- Did the policy have the intended effect(s)?
Implement, Monitor, And Evaluate
The Policy
