The Effects of Policy on

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Center for Natural Resources Policy Analysis, UC
Davis
The Effects of Policy on Population and the
Environment
Stephen A. Vosti
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Presentation Outline

• What Is Policy?
• What Is Policy Supposed To Do?
• What Policy Instruments Are Available?
• Who Makes Policy?
• Issues of Policy Implementation
• Policy Impact
• Limits to Policymakers Effectiveness
• Costs of Policy Action
• Politics and Political Economy of Policy Action

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What Is Policy?

• Societal (Policy) Objectives
• Environmental sustainability, economic growth,
  poverty alleviation
• Vary over time, space, population groups
• Means for Achieving Objectives
• Policies
• Technologies
• Institutions/Organizations

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What Is Policy Supposed To Do?

• Alter Human Behavior
• Individuals
• Families
• Groups
• Alter the Effects on Humans of Natural Phenomena
• Weather
• Climate
• Natural disasters

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Policy Instruments

• Price Policy
• Income Policy
• Investments
• Service Provision
• Input Provision
• Management of Public Assets

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Who Makes Policy?In General, Population Policy,
Environmental Policy

• Public Sector
• Elected officials, appointed public officials,
  directors of publicly funded organizations, etc.
• Private Sector
• CEOs, CFOs, boards of directors, pension fund
  managers, etc.
• Civil Society
• Labor unions
• NGOs
• PVOs
• Clergy

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Policy Impacts

• Intended
• Direct e.g., user fees on resources
• Indirect e.g., female education on fertility
  rates
• Unintended
• Direct e.g., land use regulation on poverty
• Indirect e.g., land use regulation on migration
• Time Lags
• Forestry policy and forest regrowth
• Global warming
• Measurement Issues and Causation

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Limits to Policymakers Effectiveness

• Fiscal Limits
• Budgets are limited, discretionary budgets nearly
  zero
• Borrowing is limited, generally short term
• Legal Limits
• Existing laws and regulations
• Grandfather and sunset clauses
• Policy Domains
• Individual, community, municipal, state,
  national, international

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Costs of Policy Action

• Financial
• Current and future budgets
• Opportunity Costs
• Effectiveness Versus Efficiency
• Political Costs
• Who Should Pay the Bill for Policy Action?
• Local, Regional, National, International
• Today and in the future
• Allocating the bill across different groups?
• On what basis? Will they really pay?

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Politics and Political Economy of Policy Action

• Politics
• Election cycles
• Voting blocks and environmental services
• Voting blocks and population characteristics
• Political Economy
• Rent seeking

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Food For Thought

• Trends in
• Policy objectives
• Policy instruments
• The role of markets in achieving policy
  objectives
• Policy makers and policymaking processes
• Policy impact
• Paying the bill for policy action
• What Should We Do Today to Prepare for Tomorrow?
• Environment
• Population