17.303j    Policy Analysis

Syllabus

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WEB Page:  http://web.mit.edu/17.303j/www/

UG(2)      

Credit: 3-0-9

 

Spring 2002

Seminar:     Monday:     12:00-2:00pm
                   Wednesday: 12:00 - 1:00pm

Bldg. & Room:      3-401B 

 

Professor Stephen M. Meyer
   Department of Political Science
   E53-402
   Phone: 253-8078
   Email: smmeyer@mit.edu

Professor Martin Rein
   Department of Urban Studies
        and Planning
   9-415
   Phone: 253-2047
   Email: mrein@mit.edu

Methods of Policy Analysis

11.003j/17.303j introduces methods of policy analysis. We focus on three targets for analysis.  First, we examine prescriptive methods.  That is methods for weighing the "costs and benefits" of alternative courses of policy action.  Which policy "option" represents the best -- most effective, most efficient, most equitable, etc. -- choice for government action.

Second, we look at methods for evaluating policy and program performance post- implementation. How do we know when a policy or program is working?  We consider both process evaluations (is the implementing agency actually carrying out its assigned tasks?) and outcome/impact evaluations (is the policy/program actually having the expected effect?).

Third, we consider methods for assessing policy outcomes -- that is, broad social impact.

Our toolkit of methods includes both quantitative and qualitative models and techniques.

Readings:

The three course texts, which can be purchased at the MIT COOP are: 

Michael Munger (2000) Analyzing Policy (New York: W.W. Norton & Co.)

Beryl Radin (2000) Beyond Machiavelli: Policy Analysis Comes of Age (Washington D.C.: Georgetown University Press).

Carol Weiss (1998) Evaluation (New Jersey: Prentice-Hall)

The remainder of the readings for this course can be found in the

 CLASS NOTES PACKAGE

 available for purchase at the MIT Graphic Arts Copy Center [basement of E52].

Students are also required to read the daily press. Students may choose from among: The Boston Globe, The New York Times, or the Wall Street Journal.

Each week’s reading assignments should be completed prior to lecture class for that week.

Requirements & Grading

Grades will be determined by student performance on all of the following:

Class participation: Students are required to attend class. Missing more that two classes without prior permission will result in automatic failure of the course regardless of other grades. Quizzes may be given at the discretion of the instructors.

Both lecture and recitation section will involved extensive student oral participation, commenting, questioning, and probing arguments and ideas.  Students will be required to prepare several oral presentations in recitation.

30%
Policy Analysis Project:   Students will conduct an extended policy analysis project -- four papers -- throughout the length of the term.  The project will involve four activities: a "news" review, an analytic (academic, economic, legal, literature review, an alternatives analysis, and field work (identifying & dissecting two contending policy approaches).

Each activity will culminate in a five to seven page paper. 

70%

This class will be conducted as a combination seminar and tutorial. 

To summarize, students are required to:

1. attend each weekly seminar and tutorial session;

2. complete weekly required reading assignments prior to class;

3. read a major newspaper daily (the Boston Globe, New York Times, or Wall Street Journal are acceptable);

WARNING: Students who miss more than one seminar without prior approval or an accepted medical excuse will receive a failing grade for the class. There will be no exceptions.

 

Seminar Schedule

Part I: What is Policy Analysis?

Feb. 6:

Introduction to Course

We begin with a simple exercise using the daily news.  How does policy analysis appear in the press?  What do you recognize as policy analysis?

Assignment for Class:

  1. Read thoroughly the Monday (Feb 4) and Tuesday (Feb 5) Boston Globe.

  2. Bring copies of those editions of the newspaper to class.

  3. Be prepared to discuss the following:

    What evidence of policy analysis do you find in
    the various articles?

    Which are most persuasive? Why? What tools
    do they use?

    Which are least persuasive? Why? What tools 
    do they use?

 

Feb. 11 & 13:

What does it Mean to "Analyze" Policy?

How does policy analysis differ from social science?  Is there a difference?  Is it one of methodology, purpose, or use?

We examine an example of a policy study.  What does the paper try to do?  What about it is analytic?  What are its strong points?  What are its weak points?  Does it answer the questions it raises?  Did it answer the right questions?

Required Reading:

**Mark Moore (1983) "Social Science and Policy Analysis," in Daniel Callahan and Bruce Jennings eds. Ethics, the Social Sciences, and Policy Analysis. (New York: Plenum), chapter 11, pp. 271-291.

**James Wilson, (1975) "Criminologist,"  (New York: Basic Books)  chapter 3, 43-63.

Case 1: Rebecca Blank and David T. Ellwood (2001)
The Clinton Legacy for America's Poor. (National Bureau of Economic Research: Working Paper #8437).

  http://www.nber.org/papers/w8437.

Recommended Reading

Daniel Callahan and Bruce Jennings eds. Ethics, the Social Sciences, and Policy Analysis. (New York: Plenum).

George McCall and George Weber (1984) Social Science and Public Policy: The Roles of Academic Disciplines in Policy Analysis. (New York: Associated Faculty Press).

Feb. 19 & 20:

 

 

The Origins & Evolution of the Policy Analysis Field

How did the field of policy analysis come to be and how has it evolved?  What were the expectations for the field and have those expectations been realized? Who does policy analysis and why?

Required Reading:

Radin (2000) Beyond Machiavelli, pp. 1-186.

Recommended Reading

Feb. 25 & 28:

Models of Public Policy Decision-Making

Required Reading:

Munger (2000), chapters 1-6 (pp. 3-199).

Recommended Reading

 

Part II: Choosing Among Policy Alternatives

March 4:: PAPER #1 DUE
March 4 & 7:

 


Study Questions

Welfare Economics Paradigm

Required Reading:

Munger (2000), chapters 7-8 (pp. 200-279)

Case 2:

Recommended Reading

 

March 11 & 13:

 


Study Questions

Probability & Time In Policy Analysis

Required Reading:

Munger (2000), chapters 9-10, pp. 280-351

Recommended Reading

 

March 18 & 20:

Cost Benefit Analysis

Required Reading:

Munger (2000), chapters 11 & 12., pp. 352-382

**Michael Grunwald (2000) "How Corps Turned Doubt Into a Lock,"
Washington Post, (February 13), p. A1.

Recommended Reading

 

April 1: PAPER #2 DUE
April 1 & 3:

Risk Assessment and Cost Benefit Analysis

Required Reading:

Arsenic Rule Benefits Analysis; An EPA Science Advisory Board Review

April 8 & 10:

Alternative Forms of Policy Analysis: Narratives, History, & Argumentation

Required Reading:

**Emery Roe (1994) Narrative Policy Analysis (Durham, S.C.: Duke University Press), chapters 1-2, appendix A.

**Thomas Kaplan (1986) "The Narrative Structure of Policy Analysis," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, Vol. 5, No. 4, pp. 761-778.

**Giandomenico Majone (1989) "Analysis as Argument," in Majone. Evidence, Argument, and Persuasion in the Policy Process (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press), chapters  2 & 3, pp. 21-67.,

Recommended Reading

Emery Roe (1994) Narrative Policy Analysis (Durham, S.C.: Duke University Press)

 

April 17:

NOTE: FULL WEDNESDAY CLASS 12:00 - 2:00pm 

Alternative Forms of Policy Analysis: Value & Frame-Critical Analysis

Required Reading:

**Martin Rein (1983) "Value-Critical Policy Analysis,"  in Daniel Callahan and Bruce Jennings eds. Ethics, the Social Sciences, and Policy Analysis. (New York: Plenum), chapter 5, pp. 83-111.

Recommended Reading

 

Part III:   Evaluating Policy & Program Impact
              & Effectiveness

April 22: PAPER #3 DUE
April 22 & 24:

Program Evaluation as Policy Analysis
This session looks at program impact and effectiveness.  Two forms of program evaluation are examined.  The first is impact analysis: Is the program achieving the goals and objectives that were set?  The second form looks at program implementation: Is the program carrying out the activities for achieving goals correctly and effectively?

Required Reading:

Weiss (1998) Evaluation, chapters 1-5

Recommended Reading

 

April 29 & May 1:

Program Evaluation as Policy Analysis

Required Reading:

Weiss (1998) Evaluation, chapters 6-7,10-11

Recommended Reading

 

May 6 & 8:

Methodological Options: Case Studies, Comparative Approaches, and Quantitative Approaches - I

Required Reading:

Donald T. Campbell (1973) "Reforms as Experiments," in James Caporaso and Leslie Roos, Jr. (1973) Quasi-Experimental Approaches, (Evanston, Ill.: Northwestern University Press).

Jennifer Light (2001) "The Effects of Privatization on Public Services," New Directions in Evaluation, No. 90.

Recommended Reading

 

May 10: PAPER #4 DUE
May 13 & 15:

Methodological Options: Case Studies, Comparative Approaches, and Quantitative Approaches - II

Required Reading:

TBD

Recommended Reading

 

 
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