Policy Design and Tools

Part 1: Foundations and Goals

Policy Design

Definition: The process by which policies are designed—through technical analysis and political negotiation—to achieve a public goal.

Key Characteristics

  • Occurs across the policy process, not just at the beginning
  • Involves selecting policy tools to pursue goals
  • Balances technical feasibility with political acceptability

Key Insight: Every design choice involves trade-offs—between values, goals, and outcomes

Policy Design and Implementation

How Design Shapes Implementation

  • Determines available resources and constraints
  • Sets timelines, milestones, and accountability
  • Assigns roles to agencies and actors
  • Defines the scope for administrative discretion

How Implementation Shapes Design

  • Reveals practical challenges and unintended effects
  • Generates feedback that can prompt design changes
  • Highlights gaps between policy intent and outcomes
  • Agencies may reinterpret or adapt vague policy language

Design and implementation influence each other in an ongoing, iterative process—not a simple linear sequence.

Five Elements of Policy Design

  1. Goals - What is the policy trying to achieve?
  2. Causal Theory - What is the theory of change?
  3. Tools - What tools will be used to achieve the goals?
  4. Target Population - Who is the policy trying to affect?
  5. Implementation - How will the policy be implemented?

These five elements must work together coherently for a policy to succeed

Goals

Definition: The desired outcomes of the policy - what the policy is trying to achieve

Explicit Goals

  • Stated clearly in the policy text
  • Found in legislative history
  • Articulated in public statements
  • Measurable objectives and targets

Implicit Goals

  • Embedded in policy design choices
  • Revealed through implementation priorities
  • Sometimes political or symbolic
  • May reflect unstated priorities

Multiple, sometimes conflicting goals often exist within the same policy

Causal Theory

Definition: The theory about what causes a problem and how the policy will address it

Key Functions

  • Forms the foundation of policy logic - the theory of change
  • Essential for measuring the policy's success
  • Shapes selection of appropriate policy tools
  • Informs implementation strategies
  • Poor theory can lead to policy failure even with perfect implementation

If your causal theory is wrong, even the most well-implemented policy will fail to achieve its goals

Causal Theory: Problem Definition → Policy Design

Problems are socially constructed and defined - they don't simply exist "out there"

Key Points

  • Different stakeholders frame problems differently
  • Each problem definition implies a different solution
  • Whoever successfully defines the problem gains advantage in designing the solution
  • Problems must be defined as something we can do something about

Problem Definition Example

Example: Homelessness

Problem Definition Resulting Policy Approaches
Housing affordability crisis Affordable housing development
Mental health/addiction issue Treatment and services
Economic displacement Job programs and economic support

The way we define the problem shapes the solutions we consider

Policy Goals from Stone's Policy Paradox

Four Core Policy Goals

  1. Security - Protecting people from harm
  2. Liberty - Protecting people's rights
  3. Efficiency - Getting the most out of resources
  4. Equity - Fairness in the distribution of resources

Stone argues these goals are inherently in tension with one another - policy design involves making trade-offs between them

Source: Stone, D. (2012). Policy Paradox: The Art of Political Decision Making

Next Up: Part 2 - Goal Conflicts and Trade-offs

In the next presentation, we'll explore:

  • How policy goals conflict with each other
  • Strategies for balancing competing objectives
  • Real-world examples of goal trade-offs
  • The complexity of managing multiple policy objectives