Public Finance Public Policy Paper

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Public Finance Public Policy Paper

• Igor Baranov
• Graduate School of Management, St. Petersburg
  University

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Public Policy Paper General Requirements

• Groups of 4 students
• 25 of the total score for the course
• What is graded?
• - In-class presentation (10 minutes) according
  to the schedule
• - Written paper submitted AFTER presentation
  (deadline April 28, 2009), up to 5,000 words
• Evaluation
• - Following Writing Public Policy Paper
  guidelines
• - Quality of presentation
• - QA session for the group
• Reference Writing Effective Public Policy Papers
  by E.Young and L.Quinn. OSI, 2002.

3
Public Administration Roles and Professions

• Politicians
• Civil servants
• Policy analysts
• Researchers
• Managers in public sector organizations
• Business-government relations analysts in private
  companies

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Policy Study vs Policy Analysis

• Policy study
• Who researchers / academics
• Where universities, research institutes
• What to understand and inform the policy-making
  process by carrying out primary research into
  specific policy issues
• Policy analysis
• Who analysts
• Where think tanks / policy centers
• What designing actual policy to be implemented
• Policy studies are issue-driven, whereas policy
  analyses are client-driven

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Areas of Difference Policy Study Policy Analysis
Audience Targets other policy specialists Targets decision-makers
Focus Issue-driven General recommendations on policy issues Client-driven Designing specific policies to be implemented on the ground
Methodology Primary research Rarely includes primary research
Ideas / language used Can be quite discipline specific / technical Must be very clear and simple
Length Up to 20,000 words Not usually longer than 5,000 words
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The Policy Cycle

• Problem definition / Agenda setting
• Show that a problem exists that requires
  government action
• Constructing the Policy Alternatives / Policy
  Formulation
• Consider all possible solutions
• Choice of Solution / Selection of Preferred
  Policy Option
• Evaluate each option and choose your preferred
  one
• Policy design
• Choosing a policy instrument and a delivery
  organization mix
• Policy implementation and monitoring
• Evaluation
• A policy paper can influence any or all stages of
  the policy cycle

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Paper Checklist

• Which stage(s) in the policy-making process are
  you trying to influence through your policy
  paper?
• Which stakeholders have been/are involved at each
  stage of the policy-making process? Who is your
  client?
• Have you identified a clear problem to address?
  Can you summarize it in two sentences?
• Do you have sufficiently comprehensive evidence
  to support your claim that a problem exists?
• Have you outlined and evaluated the possible
  policy options that could solve this problem?
  What evaluation criteria did you use?
• Have you decided on a preferred alternative?
• Do you have sufficient evidence to effectively
  argue for your chosen policy alternative over the
  others?
• Prepare Elevator speech

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Policy Paper Structure

• Title
• Table of contents
• Abstract / Executive summary
• Introduction
• Problem description
• Policy options
• Conclusions and recommendations
• Bibliography
• Appendices

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Abstract / Executive Summary

• Purpose of the paper
• Definition and description of the policy problem
• Evaluation of policy alternatives
• Conclusion and recommendations

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Introduction

• Context of the policy problem
• Definition of the policy problem
• Statement of intent
• Methodology and limitations of the study
• Road map of the paper

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Conclusion and Recommendations

• Synthesis of major findings
• highlights main points from the problem
  description and policy options elements
• Set of policy recommendations
• Concluding remarks

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Writing Style

• Write by paragraphs!
• Paragraph has to indicate both logical and
  physical breaks in the text