Introduction to Policy Design - The Problem Definition Step

Август 20, 2022

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Introduction to Policy Design - The Problem Definition Step

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2. Policy design to foster innovation
3. HERBERT SIMON (Nobel Prize) It has been the task of the natural science disciplines to teach
5. HERBERT SIMON (Nobel Prize) Schools of engineering, as well as schools of architecture/planning, business, education, …,
6. DEFINITION: Public policies and projects are the results of efforts made by governments and other actors
7. Policy design extends to both the means and mechanisms through which goals are given effect, and
8. Policy design is the effort to develop efficient and effective policies or projects through the application
9. The main elements of policy design: Problem setting/definition (and the agenda setting characteristics) Policy / Program
10. Problem setting or problem definition refers to the activity of structuring a problem Your problem definition
11. A useful heuristic: THINK IN TERMS OF DEFICIT AND EXCESS There is too much pollution/cars in
12. Use the world “too” in the definition can help to orient attention Remember: the problems deserving
13. Usually the raw material for your initial problem definition comes from your client or interview of
14. In either case, the researcher has to overcome rhetoric to define a problem that: (a) is
15. Use the raw material of issue rhetoric with care: - may be some people don’t consider
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Policy design to foster innovation

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HERBERT SIMON (Nobel Prize)
It has been the task of the

natural science disciplines to teach about natural things: how they are and how they work.
It has been the task of social sciences to teach about artificial things: how to make artifacts that have desired properties and how to design.
Everyone designs who devises courses of action aimed at changing existing situations into preferred ones.
(adapted from The Sciences of the Artificial (1969), 3d ed. 1996, p.111)

1. POLICY DESIGN

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HERBERT SIMON (Nobel Prize)
Schools of engineering, as well as schools

of architecture/planning, business, education, …, are all centrally concerned with the process of design:
a) Policy/projects = an artifact
b) Objective: changing existing situations into preferred ones = change undesired situations, dealing with collective problems
c) Process of design = to construct a model of cause-and-effect that connect the component of the policy with the expected changes (outcomes) in a specific (real) context.

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DEFINITION:
Public policies and projects are the results of efforts made by

governments and other actors to change undesired conditions of someone (citizens, companies,…); they alter aspects of their own behaviour or the social behaviour, to carry out specific or wide-ranging ends or purposes.
We assume that these efforts should embodying a conscious, intentional ‘design’.

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Policy design extends to both the means and mechanisms through which

goals are given effect, and to the goals themselves.
In fact, goal articulation inevitably involves considerations of feasibility, or what is practical or possible to achieve in given contexts circumstances.

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Policy design is the effort to develop efficient and effective policies

or projects through the application of knowledge (gained from research, experience, etc.) and reason, to the development and adoption of courses of action that are likely to succeed in attaining their desired goals within specific policy contexts and conjunctures.
See: Howlett, Designing Public Policies, 2011

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The main elements of policy design:
Problem setting/definition (and the agenda setting

characteristics)
Policy / Program Theory -> Theory of change
Policy Instruments/Tools
Implementation Theory (theory of action): Mechanisms and Nudge
Strategies for Policy Designing: a) lesson drawing from good practices and policy transfer (equivalent functional); b) pilot experiments
Decision making processes and strategies to overcome barriers
Communication: Narratives theory

1. MAIN ELEMENTS OF POLICY DESIGN

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Problem setting or problem definition refers to the activity of structuring

a problem
Your problem definition is a crucial step, because it gives you:
a reason for doing all the work necessary to develop the policy design
a sense of direction for your evidence-gathering activity and data collection
in the last phases, will help you structure how you tell your story (e.g. to communicate your solution/project with a convincing narrative)

2. PROBLEM SETTING / PROBLEM DEFINITION

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A useful heuristic:
THINK IN TERMS OF DEFICIT AND EXCESS
There is too

much pollution/cars in the town/neighbourhood
The demand of water for agricultural uses is growing faster and is challenging our ability to manage this demand and other water uses, considering at the same time environmental problems
There is a deficit of houses with an affordable cost for aged people with a low income
There are too much judicial trials that are decided after 3 years from the registration

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Use the world “too” in the definition can help to orient

attention
Remember: the problems deserving our attention don’t necessarily exist “today” but are (at least potentially) in prospect for the future (near or distant)‏. Eg. when we use the ‘future generations’ argument
Comment:
Don’t use the “deficits or excesses” tool when your problem is an already well structured problem. For instance:
- The long time needed to process this procedure is due to the lack of competences of employees in using the installed software

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Usually the raw material for your initial problem definition comes from

your client or interview of stakeholders (subjects with information about the theme under investigation)‏
Generally, that material derives from the ordinary language of debate and discussion in the client’s political environment.
We call this language “Issue Rhètoric”
This rhètoric may be narrowly confined to a technical problem, located in a controversy of wide social interest, based on ordinary knowledge, etc.

2. DEALING WITH ISSUE RHETORIC

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In either case, the researcher has to overcome rhetoric to define

a problem that:
(a) is analytically manageable = a theory is (or more theories are) available to explain that unsatisfactory situation; in other words, exists almost one theory that explain the causes that are correlated to the unsatisfactory situation
(b) some possible solutions had been tested
(c) the problem’ definition makes sense in light of the political and institutional means available for mitigate the “problem”

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Use the raw material of issue rhetoric with care:
- may be

some people don’t consider the situation as “bad”
- may point to some supposed – but not necessarily real – causes of the troubling condition
Some issues may connote more than one problem