Public Policy Analysis

Lecture 6

Previous Lecture

Discussed that there are un-common perspectives on Public Policy

Richard Thaler’s article > the use of behavior in policy making

Why a ‘Comparative’ public policy analysis?

‘Useless Comparison’s’ reading on blog.

Podcast> Establishment of US Federal Reserve

Cultural Perspective of Public Policy In one of our previous discussions, we discussed how a single policy may

not be suitable for all since there is diversity, of people, geography, and other such factors.

The cultural perspective of public policy is based on formulating policy according to these differences.

We studied behavior and its application to public policy. A lot of the behavior is formed through the influences of the culture.

Two competing views on culture for applying and analyzing a public policy, later combined into a group-grid theory of culture. The first one falls towards preference for more ‘nativity’ of the implementer. The second one more concerned with Marxian views and technology having the biggest impact on culture.

What the ‘group-grid’ cultural theory does is that it seeks out specific patterns of a group of people. These patterns are formed by behaviors that are affected by culture. The application of Thaler’s article on certain ‘groups’ was in the same category. Any policy has to be based on these patterns.

The ‘group-grid’ theory’s one dominant aim is to provide for a positive cultural change for better outcomes. Since any cultural change is usually a long term process, therefore the ‘group-grid’ theory is a long term theory in application.

Some examples: a) The change in gas guzzler, fuel inefficient vehicle culture towards a

more efficient ones. Driven by the 1970’s oil price shock. Led to application of public policies that were aimed at changing peoples’ habits for heavy fuel consumption cars towards efficient one’s, alternative energy technologies like solar power, fuel efficiency standards, etc. almost 40 years afterwards, we have hybrid cars, EFI engines, solar grid stations, etc.

b) The use of generators running on natural gas in places where there is

no electricity. This is contributing towards a new culture of inefficiency.

The change in the workforce participation by gender. Early 1900’s, there were hardly any women to speak of in the work force. By the end 1900’s, women were major participants in the workforce.

What’s the use of cultural theory in public policy?

a) It helps reveal loose ends in a policy from a cultural point of view. This leads to overall improvement (the Incrementalism) and refinement of the implemented policy.

b) It helps identify side effects from the point of view of a group of people attuned to a specific way of life.

c) It’s helpful in developing a hierarchy according to which the problems and policies can be viewed.

Page 294 of the Handbook of Public Policy Analysis. Go through the steps. Note that these criteria’s could easily be applied in other areas too since these are very general.

Think about the metro system: why implement it in cities only, and not in villages or countryside?

The Smit and Van Gunsteren study of proposals to implement noise abatement policies by the government in Netherlands. They warned that side-effects were not taken into account and that enforcing top-down policies would not produce the desired results. Reason: government had not taken account of reactions, which included lawsuits.

Another example from the same pages: taxing car travelers to reduce road congestion. What researchers found was that once a person commits to a job with a workplace, he will travel the same route no matter what the cost and congestion.

As with almost all public policy issues, it is imperative that the problem be identified properly before proceeding to apply analysis. Cultural theory the same.

Ethical Perspective What’s ethics got to do with policy making? Take the example of corruption

in Pakistan. At its core, its an ethical problem!

Public policy makers are resource distributors by default. When there is a public policy implemented, there is provision of resources too. For the person in charge of that distribution, there is every possibility of committing an unethical action (bribery, commission, other favors, etc). Therefore, it becomes imperative that those who exercise power or discretion must have an ethical base.

Public policy practitioners all over the world have realized the importance of ethics in policy making and practicing. Therefore, courses in ethics have become a necessary complementarity to public policy courses.

Historically, the importance of ethics to people and their conduct was realized in the writings of Greek philosophers like Aristotle and Plato.

Ethical theory is concerned with the formulation of general guidelines of conduct, while practical ethics concerns real world applications of those guidelines in resolving ethical dilemmas.

The ethics problem should ideally be separated by application of ethics in personal life and public life. A very honest public official may not be a very good father at home or not the most obedient kid, but that shouldn’t concern policymaking. If he has done his job in a fair way, its fair enough.

Amartya Sen (2009), ‘Smith’s markets never stood alone’.