Teaching public policy analysis: Lessons from the field

Abstract

Understanding how to make the world a better place requires interdisciplinary knowledge. Public policy analysis helps policymakers arrive at informed policy decisions. The policy analysis process involves public problem definition and data collection, stakeholder identification, a rationale for government involvement, evaluation criteria, identification and analysis of policy alternatives, and a recommendation. Economics informs not only the identification of market failures but also how we think about public problems, evaluate relevant research, identify policy alternatives, weigh objective criteria (costs, benefits, equity), and select optimal solutions. Students of policy analysis gain experience through in-class examples of contemporary topics and an iterative policy paper, where each student selects a public problem, conducts research, and writes an analysis. Students become effective consumers and beginning producers of policy analysis.

Keywords:

• Economics
• interdisciplinary
• policy analysis
• public policy

Acknowledgments

The author is grateful for valuable feedback from Allen Goodman and other participants at the American Economic Association’s 2021 annual conference, “Lessons from the Field.”

Notes

1 Effective communication of this material is best accomplished with graphical analysis and intuition, rather than calculus, given the heterogeneity of the undergraduate students enrolled. This could, of course, be modified if the course had microeconomic and/or calculus prerequisites.

2 There are many materials for this topic, but I use several helpful sources as the foundation, including Brownell et al. (2009) and Friedman and Brownell (2012). There are also useful popular press articles that highlight more recent efforts on this topic, for example, in Berkeley, CA. See, for example, Manke (2019).

3 Identifying appropriate case studies takes instructor time. I often try to identify a “hot topic” and then identify sets of articles and readings that speak to the topic. It is important to find resources that speak to different parts of the policy process. For example, a useful cost-benefit analysis resource may not speak to the problem definition. In this case, you may need to supplement with other resources. In this way, a set of readings becomes your case study.