Policy analysis session 4

Policy instruments

methods of public action utilized by policy actors in order to structure and influence collective action for the purpose of achieving specific goals

Nodality

use of information to persuade citizens of desired behavior (persuasion, moral authority)

Authority

Legitimate power of government used to enforce regulation

Treasure

using financial (dis)incentives to persuade the public to perform desired behavior

Organisation

The government uses its own resources, expertise and personnel to organise public services and find institutions to influence behavior

Enabling and constraining instruments (Fenger en Klok)

Enabling instrument: enables desired behavior

Constraining instrument: constrains undesired behavior

Public information campaigns

making available information gathered in routine reporting or special studies with the intent to influence collective or individual behavior

exhortation

campaigns that urge people to undertake certain behaviors (e.g. urge people to eat healthy)

benchmarking or performance indicators

Present information in a way (example: comparisons) that can generate insights and enhance the opportunity to influence behavior

Goal setting

Getting people to commit to certain goals in order to influence their behavior and overcome a lack of willpower or tendency to procastinate

Command-and-control regulation

A prescription by the government that must be complied with by the intended targets (failure to do so usually will lead to a penalty) (economic, social, spatial)

Delegated regulation, self-regulation, covenants/codes of conduct

governments leave it up to non-governmental actors to regulate themselves (can be more direct and explicit or more indirect)

public enterprises/ state-owned enterprises

entities totally or partially owned by the state, but that enjoy some form of autonomy from the government

• large degree of public ownership

• some control over management by the government

• produce goods for sale

Privatisation

The government sells public sector tasks to private actors

Liberalisation

The government opens up the market to private players

Participation paradox

More participation does not always lead to better outcomes, but can enhance existing injustices and power imbalances

Bounded rationality

Human behavior frequently falls short of objective rationality because of difficulties associated with anticipating the future and a lack of complete knowledge of all possible alternatives and consequences

Confirmationbias

We tend to search for, interpret, favor, and recall information in a waythat confirms or supports our prior beliefs or values

Satus quo bias

We like to keep what we have and seek the path of least resistance

Present bias

We tend to settle for a smaller reward today than to wait for a larger one later

optimism and overconfidence bias

We are over optimistic and have sometimes too much confidence

nudge

any aspect of the choice architecture that alters people’s behavior in a predictable way without forbidding any options or significantly changing their economic incentives