Spring 1998 Prof. John Mendeloff

Office hours: 3G24 Forbes Quad

Wed., 10:15-12:00; Th. 4:00-5:15 648-2651

jmen+@pitt.edu

Policy analysis is the craft of applying the social sciences and other sources of knowledge to clarifying the implications of different approaches to addressing public issues. At its best, policy analysis can create a new understanding of these issues and may generate new options that are superior to old ones. In its every day practice, policy analysis should help us to better understand what the options are for addressing problems and clarify the nature of the uncertainties about their consequences.

1) To learn how to carry out the steps in performing a policy analysis. By the end of the class you should be able to conduct a creditable quick analysis.

2) To learn several key skills in evaluating programs and assessing their costs and benefits.

2) To learn how to distinguish a good analysis from a poor one.

3) To learn how to effectively communicate the results of that analysis, both orally and in writing.

4) To learn about the different roles that policy analysts play.

Four books are available for purchase in the bookstore:

1) David L. Weimer and Aidan R. Vining, Policy Analysis: Concepts and Practice 2d ed. (1992, Prentice-Hall)

2) Eugene Bardach, The Eight-Step Path of Policy Analysis (A Handbook for Practice) (1996, Berkeley Academic Press)

3) Deborah Stone, The Policy Paradox: The Art of Political Decision Making (1997, Norton)

Recommended

Edith Stokey and Richard Zeckhauser, A Primer for Policy Analysis (1978, Norton)

All other assigned readings, except for a few hand-outs, will be on 2-hour reserve in the Economics-GSPIA Library.

The assignments on which you will be graded include the following:

1) An assignment to conduct a policy analysis over a 7 day period--15% Assigned 1/24; due 1/31.

2) A mid-term exam which will include both essay (take-home) and short-answer (in-class) questions--25%. In class, Feb. 19. Take-home due 2/26.

3) The first cut of your policy analysis--20%. Due March 19.

4) Individual oral presentations. Some of these presentations will need to be made outside of regular class hours.--10% Weeks of April 16 and April 23

5) The second cut of your policy analysis-20%. Due April 23.

6) Several homework assignments--10%

In addition, class participation will be considered in assigning a grade for the course.

My expectation is that the distribution of grades will be roughly as follows: approximately 20% of the class receiving an "A," 25% an "A-," 25% a "B+," 20% receiving a "B," and a10% receiving a "B-" or below. A higher or lower distribution will be awarded if performances seem to warrant it.

I expect students to read the assigned readings prior to coming to class and to be prepared to discuss them intelligently. Because class sessions are an important part of the course, I expect regular attendance. If you are unable to attend a class, please let me know prior to the class.

Assignments should be handed in on time. A full grade will be deducted for each day late unless there is an excuse for illness. Papers can be faxed or e-mailed in if necessary. Although I will allow collaboration on some homework, you should assume that you are not to collaborate unless I tell you differently.

I strongly recommend that students who get less than a B+ on any assignment make an appointment to see me. If you can’t make office hours, I will arrange a time that fits your schedule. In some cases, I may set up review sessions for groups of students. Of course, students who get higher grades are welcome too.

Although the syllabus lets you know when assignments will be due, they will often not be distributed until the week before they are due. I will try to make them available on e-mail, but it is your responsibility to make sure you get them.

Major topics: Introductions: to the class and to the people in it. Introduce the steps in policy analysis. Review examples of good and bad analysis and the use of economic and quantitative reasoning. Discuss different meanings of problem definition and methods for identifying criteria.

Readings that will be discussed in this Class. You should go back to look at these first three only if you are interested:

1. John DiIulio, "Promising Alternatives to Incarceration," Chapter 2 in No Escape: The Future of American Corrections (Basic Books, 1991), pp. 60-102.
2. Roger G. Noll and Andrew Zimbalist, "Sports, Jobs, and Taxes: Are New Stadiums Worth the Cost?" Brookings Review Summer 1997, pp. 35-39.
3. William A. Niskanen, "Too Much Too Soon: Is a Global Warming Treaty a Rush to Judgment?" Jobs and Capital Fall 1997, pp. 14-19.

1. "Airline Deregulation in Canada" Weimer/Vining [W/V], pp. 343-356. This presents a template that you might want to follow in your own policy paper.
2. Mark Moore, "Anatomy of the Heroin Problem: An Exercise in Problem Definition," Policy Analysis (1976) 2:639-662. This is by no means a full analysis, but illustrates the importance of disaggregation in thinking about both the policy problem and policy options.

Assignments:

1) Next class, bring in a few paragraphs on two different ideas that you are considering for your policy analysis project this semester. Be sure to read the handout that I will provide on guidance in choosing topics.

2) For each of the two topics, succinctly state "The Issue" in a fashion comparable to the statement on p. 345 of Weimer/Vining. Then identify the criteria that you think are relevant to assesing the options. Be sure to avoid over-general labels like "equity" and "efficiency" and explain precisely what you mean by the terms that you use. One or, at most, two double-spaced pages per topic should suffice.

Major topics: More on criteria. Conflicts between efficiency and equity. "Market failure" as a diagnostic tool for public interventions.

Readings for this Class:

1) Deborah Stone, The Policy Paradox, Chapters 2 ("Equity"), 3 ("Efficiency"), and 5 ("Liberty"), pp. 39-85, 108-130.

Stone points out how sets of views cluster into different ideological positions that shape peoples’ perceptions of public policy issues. Do these clusters necessarily cohere? Can you be a radical conservative or a conservative liberal?

One of the central issues for Stone is whether equity and efficiency necessarily conflict. She seems to think that they do not. How satisfactory do you find her argument?

2) W/V, Chapter 3, "Rationales for Public Policy: Market Failures," pp. 30-77. [Some of this material should be familiar from PIA 2008.]

3) Read thru the 8 Steps of Bardach’s book, pp. 1-64.

1) Write a page describing your choice of the topic for your analysis. Clarify who the client(s) is. Construct a preliminary matrix of criteria and options. Explain what sort of information you will examine and what sort of analytic work you think you will have to do to fill in the matrix.

Major topics: government failures

Readings for this Class:

1) W/V Chapter 6 "Limits to Public Intervention: Government Failure" pp. 112-143.

2) Alain Enthoven, "," in The New England Journal of Medicine,

Assignments:

1) Carry out the Mass Medical School Assignment.

Major topics: Review of Case, illustrating full dimensions of an analysis. Research tactics and strategies--trip to library with Caroline Tibbets

Readings for this Class:

1) Mass Medical School, cont.

2) Bardach, Chapter 2 "Assemble the Evidence," pp. 13-18 and "Gathering Data for Policy Research," pp. 83-126.

Note: We will be meeting with Caroline Tibbets in Hillman Library at 10:30 for guidance on data base searches for your projects.

Major topics: arithmetic of efficiency

Readings for this Class:

1) Stokey and Zeckhauser (S/Z)

2) W/V 284-286

Assignments:

Homework exercises

Major topics: What counts to whom?

Readings for this Class:

1) Anthony Boardman, Aidan Vining and H.G. Waters, II, "Costs and Beenfits Through Bureaucratic Lenses," J. of Policy Analysis and Management (JPAM) (1993) 3:532-555.

2) W/V 259-272

Assignments:

Homework exercises

Major topics: Discounting and selected topics

W/V pp. 275-284, 287-311 [this latter section is the alcohol piece; I may want to substitute in IA or ID]

Knetsch paper from APPAM

Assignments:

Homework exericses

Read to prepare to answer the questions in the assignment for Class 8. We will be discussing these in class.

Major topics: Designing policy alternatives

Readings for this Class:

1) W/V pp. 225-228 and Chapter 7, "Correcting Market and Government Failures: Generic Policies," pp. 144-194.

2) Bardach, Chapter 3, pp. 19-24.

3) Alain Enthoven, "Ten Practical Principles for Policy and Program Analysis," in Richard Zeckhauser, ed., Benefit-Cost and Policy Annual 1974 (Aldine, 1975).

4) Something on innovation?

Assignments:

1) Contracting case

2) Discuss a) constraints on your choices of alternatives; b) relevance of the generic policy discussion in W/V and c) policy components (B discusses in terms of "basic" approaches and "variants" within the basic approach.

Major topics: adoption and implementation feasibility

Readings for this Class:

1) If you have not had PIA 2010, read Richard Elmore. ""Organizational Models of Social Program Evaluation," Public Policy (1978) 26:185-228.

2) W/V pp, 312-342

3) Mark Moore, A ‘Feasibility Estimate’ of a Policy Decision to Expand Methadone Maintenance," Public Policy (1978) 26:285-304.

4) Robert Behn, "How to Terminate a Public Policy," Policy Analysis (1978) 4:393-313.).

Assignments:

First Cut Paper Due Next Week

Major topics: predicting policy outcomes: finding out what we have learned from other programs

Readings for this Class:

1) Bardach, "V. Project the Outcomes," pp. 35-47

2) Donald Campbell, "The Connecticut Crackdown on Speeding,"

3) Richard J. Light and David B. Pillemer, Summing Up: The Science of Reviewing Research (Harvard, 1984), pp. 1-57, 116-143.

Assignments:

Read other student papers in your cluster.

Prepare evaluation memo on either economic sanctions or gun control.

Major topics: predicting

Readings for this Class:

Readings on the effectiveness of economic sanctions

or

Readings on the effectiveness of gun control

Assignments:

Major topics: Assessing efforts at more comprehensive rationality--GPRA, etc.

Readings for this Class:

1) Aaron Wildavsky, Rescuing Policy Analysis from PPBS," in Public Expenditures and Policy Analysis, eds., Robert H. Haveman and Julius Margolis (Markham, 1972) pp. 461-481.

2) Naomi Caiden and Aaron Wildavsky, "Planning is Not the Solution: It’s Part of the Problem," in Planning and Budgeting in Poor Countries Chapter 9, pp. 264-292.

3) something on GPRA

Assignments:

Design a set of performance measures for a public or non-profit organization.

Major topics: special topics: exit and voice; decision analysis; minimizing error costs

Readings for this Class:

1) Albert Hirschman, Exit, Voice, and Loyalty (Harvard, 1970) pp. 1-60.

2) Edith Stokey and Richard Zeckhauser, A Primer for Policy Analysis, Chapter 9 on Decision Analysis, pp. 201-235.

Assignments:

Major topics: Oral presentations

Assignments:

Major topics: Oral presentations

Readings for this Class:

Assignments:

model simple. think complex

Diagnostic on market failures

Economists typically argue that, except in the presence of "market failures," government interventions will only worsen, not improve, the efficiency with which good and services are produced and allocated. In a few sentences for each, describe the major types of "market failures" and explain why they present a potential opportunity for government intervention to improve efficiency.