Public Policy

Course: Public Policy Assignment: Problem Recognition Please answer the following que stions according to the idea of … The effects of limited affordable housing in Los Angeles What is your policy issue? Why is it a public policy issue? What are the dimensions of the issue (policy type, scale, location, intensity, extensiveness, timeline)? Answers must be in complete good sentences with proper grammar. Must explore the idea od public policy and must answer all questions. You may use the below as an EXAMPLE of what the professor is looking for. MUST B E ON TIME. I NEED IN 2 HOURS! More information to help you answer :  Recognizing Public Policy Problems  Public vs. private problems  Policy vs. management problems  Solvable vs. Unsolvable problems If we fail to properly recognize a public policy issue, we cannot hope to solve it: G.I.G .O.  Problem Recognition Criteria Asking proper questions is critical to establishing the correct criteria: Four key questions:  Where did the problem come from?  How do you know about the problem?  What are the dimensions of the problem?  Who is involved and why?  Where did the problem come from?  What i s the history?  Have we seen this problem before?  What do we know now?  What do we need to know to solve the problem?  How do you know about the problem?  How did this problem come to public awareness?  What are your sources of information?  Facts  Opinions  Primary and secondary data  Who do you trust? Why?  How much information is enough?  Wha t are the dimensions of the problem?  Purpose: to set a context a nd limit the inquiry.  The six critical dimensions of a policy problem:  Type  Scale  Location  Intensity  Extensiveness  Time -line  Dimension: Problem Type  Political  Social  Economic  Technical Virtually all public issues combine multiple problem ty pes. Defining the type of problem leads to types of appropriate policy solutions .  Dimension: Problem Scale  Macro (societal)  Micro (organizational/individual)  Dimension: Problem Location  Bounded by:  Physical location  Cultural/Social characteristics  Political venue  Domestic or International (Note: international policy problems are not bounded by U.S. laws or culture – separate field entirely.)  Dimension: Intensity  How important is it to solve this problem now ?  How strongly to people feel about the problem?  How is the problem being portrayed in the media?  How is the problem being portrayed politically?  Dimension: Extensiveness  How many stakehold ers are involved?  How large is the target population?  How extensive are the geographic boundaries?  Dimension: Time -line Two basic time -lines for problems: 1. Longitudinal – for these problems, the passage of time causes changes in the solution to the problem. Problems are time -dependent. 2. Cross -sectional – for these problems, the passage of time does not cause the solution to change. Problems are time -independent.  Who is involved in the problem? Stakeholder identification is critical to successfully defining a problem. Elements to stakeholder ID: 1. Who has a stake in the policy solution? – both institutions/ groups and individuals. 2. What are the positions on the issue for each stakeholder? 3. How much influence does the stakeholder have on the policy so lution? 4. What will the policy consequences be if the stakeholder preferred solution is selected?  Implying Causality in Policy  Must be careful of implying causation when examining change and interaction among vari ables.  Correlation -- the variables show a consistent relationship  Causation -- must show both necessary and sufficient reasoning (extremely difficult in policy)  Often look for proximate (doable) rather than ultimate causes for policy solutions