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PPA 670 CH5 Public Problems and Policy Alternatives

Public Policy Analysis (California State University Long Beach)

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PPA 670 Public Problems and Policy Alternatives

Problem Analysis
 Define the problem
 Measure the problem
 Determine the extent and magnitude of the problem
 Set goals or objectives
 What can be done

Nature of the Problem

 Define and analyze the problem
 Try to answer the basic questions
o The nature of the problem; its extent or magnitude; how it came about; major causes; why it is
important to consider as a matter of public policy
o What does it entail? What do we already know about it? What are the possible solutions?
 Gather the necessary information
o Examine the “contextual data”
 How does it compare to other concerns in our personal lives or in society and to estimate what
effects a proposal or action might have?

Definitions and Measures

 Define the problem to enable policymakers to communicate with one another with a degree of precision that
otherwise might not be possible
o What is exactly is the problem? What are the conditions of the problem? Are there relative degrees to a
problem?
 Public policy arguments turn on operational measures, or quantitative indicators, of problems
o How many? How did the rate change? Who does the problem effect?
o Basic descriptive statistics
 Frequency count: % of the population affected by the problem/facts
 Mean (average), median, range of variation (standard deviation), correlations
 Statistical graphs, tables, maps
o Risks with quantitative data
 Possibility of inaccurate or misleading data in a report
 Invalid measurement that does not truly capture the problem
 The difficulties of quantifying emotions, perspectives, qualitative data

Politics of Problem Definition

 Policy actors fight over “competing conceptions of abstract goals”
o The description of any given situation will vary, depending on a policy actor’s perspective
o Groups, individuals, and govt. agencies deliberately and consciously fashion portrayals as to promote
their favored course of action
 Policymakers and interest groups will do whatever they can to set the policy agenda in their favor by defining
problems their way (issue framing)

Anticipating the Future

 Any consideration of present problem must be grounded in an assessment of how it is likely to change over time
 Examples: Economic projections, population estimates
 Projections can reveal how that change will likely unfold with or without policy intervention

Thinking about Causes and Solutions

 Think about how the problem came about and why it continues

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o Most policy studies focus on what can be called proximate, or immediate, causes of public problems
(rising prison populations)
o Difficult to deal with root causes of the problem
 Public problems have multiple causes, not a single cause, and people often disagree over which is the most
important and which ought to be the object of public policy
 Problem analysis can begin with making an explicit list of the goals and objectives of various policy actors and
determine what they would do to reach them
 When analysts think of solutions, they try to identify the opportunities for policy intervention
 Analysts may want to describe the benefits and costs of trying to solve the problem

How to Find Information

 Suggested websites, ProQuest Congressional, LexisNexis Academic; visit the govt. agency most directly related to
the issue (federal, state, local); Academic Search Complete; OmniFile Full Text Mega; Worldwide Polictical
Science Abstracts; JSTOR
 Visit professionals for interviews/panels (advanced preparation is necessary)
 Begin preparing issue papers and problem analyses with an overview of a subject from sources
 Find enough information to understand the basics about a given policy problem
 Literature Review

Constructing Alternatives
What Govt. Can Do
 Alternatives to consider: regulate, subsidize, ration, tax and spend, contract out, use market incentives,
privatize, charge fees for service, educate, create public trusts, and conduct or commission research
 If current policies are not working well enough and a change is needed, analysts might suggest modifications to
present policies or different policy approaches
o Present policies could be strengthened with funding; alternatives to regulatory policies; institutional
approaches to reorganize the bureaucracy
 Policymakers must contend with philosophical and ideological aspects

Policy Typologies as Analytic Tools

 Policy design: Careful consideration, during the policy formulation stage, of the role of government “agents” and
the “target population” – whose who receive benefits or who are the objects of govt. regulation
o Public policies must be thoroughly grounded in an understanding of the attitudes and motivations of the
policy actors who will decide how the polices are implemented and whether they have the desired
effects
 Policy tools: the elements in policy design that cause agents or targets to do something they would not
otherwise do with the intention of modifying behavior to solve public problems or attain policy goals
o Policy Design Tools
 Authority Tools: Govt. uses their authority to urge or require people to behave in a certain way
 Inducements and sanctions: Govt. provide incentives or penalties to appeal to individuals
‘rational pursuit of their self-interest
 Capacity-building tools: Govt. makes available training, education, information, and technical
assistance, and they can aim to inform or enlighten thus empower people either those in the
target population or policy agents
 Hortatory tools: Govt. invokes images and values through speeches, proclamations, and other
communication to exhort people to behave in a certain way
 Learning tools: Govt. can encourage policy agents and target populations to participate and
learn through citizen advisory panels and collaborative processes

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o Govt can: invoke their authority for compliance, provide incentives or inducements to elicit compliance,
apply sanctions or penalties for noncompliance, try to inform and enlighten the public and promote
learning, and exhort people to change their behavior

Thinking Creatively About Policy Action

 No-Action Analysis
o No-action analysis begins the present policy or status quo as a kind of baseline
 Suggest that keeping present policies or program, or defending them, may be a viable option
 Useful in times of budget constraints
o The greater dissatisfaction with the status quo option, the more likely policymakers and the public are to
favor a search for alternatives and give them serious consideration
 Quick Survey
o Quick survey involves talking with people in a policy network or searching through hearing transcripts,
minutes of meetings, newspaper accounts, and the like for pertinent information about a problem and
policy alternatives
o Useful at the local level
 Literature Review
o Examination of books, journal articles, internet sites, and other sources
o Look for policy alternatives that have been proposed or considered previously
o Could extend o a survey of the options that policymakers have considered or adopted in other policy
arenas as well
o Analysts might ask what has worked well in specific or real-world situations, and therefore what might
be considered an effective alternative to the present policy
 Passive collection
o Finding out what others have suggested in a given policy area
o Analysts might speak with a program’s clients or administrators, advocates of various questions, and
organizations that have taken a position on the issue
 Parallel situation
o Look at parallels in other policy area for ideas about what might be done
o What seems to be a new problem may present many of the same issues as an earlier one
o Listing and thinking about the attributes of the present problem, they may see its relationship to other
problems
 Brainstorming
o Takes place in an informal meeting of people who share an interest in finding solutions to a given
problem
o Participants bounce ideas around with the goal of producing a list of possibilities
o Ideas are offered and recorded as they are made, with no attempt to criticize or evaluate them
o Participants then pare down the suggestions to come up with a shorter list of alternatives worthy of
further consideration
 Ideal Situation
o Visioning meetings in which residents are encouraged to think about the community they for their
future
o The goal is to envision an ideal future and use that vision to generate ideas for moving in the desired
direction
o By encouraging the expression of an ideal, analysts can ensure that at least the more pragmatic ideas
that do receive consideration are evaluated in terms of how close they come to the ideal

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