Public Policy Evaluation: Making Super-optimum DecisionsSuper-optimum decisions involve finding alternatives to controversies whereby conservatives, liberals, or other major groups can all come out ahead of their best initial expectations simultaneously. This book is organized in terms of concepts, methods, causes, process, substance and the policy studies profession. Concepts clarify that policy evaluation traditionally involves: 1. Goals to be achieved 2. Alternatives available for achieving them 3. Relations between goals and alternatives 4. Drawing a conclusion as to the best alternative in light of the goals, alternatives and relations 5. Analyzing how the conclusion would change if there were changes in the goals, alternatives, or relations. Super-optimizing also involves five related steps, but with the following improvements: 1. Goals are designated as conservative, liberal, or neutral 2. Alternatives get the same designations 3. Relations are simplified to indicate which alternatives are relatively high or low on each goal 4. The conclusion involves arriving at an alternative that does better on Goal A than Alternative A and simultaneously better on Goal B than Alternative B 5. The fifth step involves analyzing the super-optimum or win-win alternative in terms of its feasibility as to the economic, technological, psychological, political, administrative and legal matters |
Contents
ACROSS POLICY PROBLEMS CROSSCUTTING | 3 |
Methods of Policy Analysis | 35 |
Sensitivity Analysis | 57 |
Copyright | |
15 other sections not shown
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
achieving activities adopted agencies allocation American attorneys benefits better budget business firms cent competition compromise conservative conservative and liberal conservative goal costs Court creativity crimes criteria data file dealing decision decision tree decision-aiding software decrease democracy developing dispute drug drug-related crimes economic effect elderly emphasize environmental especially example facilitate field HMOs ideas important incentives increase innovation institutions involves judicial review kind legal policy legal services legislation liberal alternative liberal goals linear programming means ment merit treatment Microcomputers minimum Nagel neutral party percentage policy analysis policy evaluation policy problems Policy Studies Organization political feasibility political science pollution public administration public policy regard relation scores relatively relevant screen side social science societal productivity society Soviet Union subsidies super-optimum solutions supply-side economics tend tion tive two-party system unemployment units University volunteer voting weights world peace