Ventures in Policy Sciences


Book Description

Textbook on the theoretics and practice of long term decision making and government policy formulation - describes an interdisciplinary research and systems analysis approach to administrative reform and modernization, considers its potential in the behavioural sciences, social sciences, urban sociology and futures studies, and examines experiences of its programme planning uses in Israel, the Netherlands and the USA. References.




Policy Sciences


Book Description

Policy Sciences presents the framework of situational normativism, a descriptive-normative methodology by which the components of policy sciences may be pragmatically integrated and applied to real decision problems. The uniqueness of this approach derives from the integration of behavioral, political, and social considerations with a broad range of systems and quantitative methodologies. Furthermore, this approach encompasses specific considerations of implementation, political feasibility, and organization redesign. Organized into three parts, this book begins with an overview of policy sciences followed by a description of the adaptive analytical framework of situational normativism. Policy making is considered as a process of adaptation and a policy-making system generally composed of two or more coupled policy makers, each of whom is viewed as an adaptive purposeful system, is described. The last part consists of nine original cases that demonstrate the application of specific methodologies to real-world problems within the framework of situational normativism. Three of the case studies focus on the zoning decision process in the city of Pittsburgh; the use of a Delphi procedure to isolate and define the influential goals of an organization; and national policies toward foreign private investment. This monograph is intended for senior undergraduates and graduates taking a course in policy sciences and inter-organizational decision making and similar courses.







Venture Capital, Entrepreneurship, and Public Policy


Book Description

Experts in public economics and financial economics discuss the special role of venture capital and if public policy should promote the venture capital industry; empirical and theoretical perspectives are developed. The existing literature in both public economics and financial economics often fails to consider how appropriate and effective public policy may be in promoting the venture capital industry. Public economics has dealt extensively with the effect of taxes and subsidies but has neglected the unique role of venture capitalists as active investors who provide not only funding but added value. Financial economics has emphasized the special role of the venture capitalist but has not focused on the real effects of venture capital in industry equilibrium or the role of public policy. This volume in the CESifo Seminar series brings together experts in public and financial economics to develop a theoretically and empirically informed international policy perspective for an era in which policymakers increasingly look to venture capital as a source of jobs, innovation, and economic growth. The chapters in part I analyze data on the levels of venture capital fundraising in Europe, problems in the bank-oriented beginnings of German venture capital finance in the 1970s, and the inefficiency of Canadian labor-sponsored venture capital funds. Part II looks at the effect of venture capital on labor market performance, the importance of exit opportunities, and the effect of information inflows on the venture capital cycle. The chapters in part III take the perspective of public economics, reviewing the role of public policy in addressing potential market failures, improving the quality of venture capital investments, and affecting entrepreneurial business activity through tax policy.




Ventures in Political Science


Book Description

A prominent political scientist in American academia throughout the second half of the 20th century, Almond gathers 11 essays he wrote mostly during the 1990s. They explore topics he finds suitable for an octogenarian: historical narrative about the political science discipline, reflections about democracy and democratization, and his own education and early career. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR




Policy Studies Journal


Book Description




PUBLIC POLICY


Book Description

The subject of Public Policy has assumed considerable importance in response to the complexity of economic downturns, social upheavals, political crises, institutional weaknesses and technology. It is concerned not only with the description but also with the developing scientific knowledge about the forces shaping public policy. The textbook, now in its second edition, continues to provide an in-depth study of the various approaches for policy formulation, implementation and evaluation. It addresses issues in policy analysis, and explains the forces that influence the functioning of executive, legislature, judiciary, civil society and administration. The book excellently reviews and evaluates the public policy literature, and exemplifies the author’s long teaching and research experience in Panjab University. The book is primarily intended for postgraduate students of Political Science and Public Administration for their courses in Public Policy and Policy Analysis, besides meeting the requirements of candidates offering public administration subject for the civil services examination. It will be equally useful for policymakers, planners and bureaucrats concerned with policy management. NEW TO THIS EDITION : Updation of the chapter Policy Approaches and Models with the inclusion of the topic ‘Public choice model of policy-making’ Addition of the two new chapters – Power Approaches to Policy Making and Strategic Planning Approach for Improving Public Policy – to study the subject in detail.




The Rush to Policy


Book Description

Rush to Policy explores the appropriate role of technical analysis in policy formulation. The authors ask when and how the use of sophisticated analytic techniques in decision-making benefits the nation. They argues that these techniques are too often used in situations where they may not be needed or understood by the decision maker, where they may not be to answer the questions raised but are nonetheless required by law. House and Shull provide an excellent empirical base for describing the impact of politics on policies, policy analysis, and policy analysts. They examine cost-benefit analysis, risk analysis, and decision analysis and assess their ability to substitute for the current decision-making process in the public sector. They examine the political basis of public sector decision-making, how individuals and organizations make decisions, and the ways decisions are made in the federal sector. Also, they discuss the mandate to use these methods in the policy formulation process. The book is written by two practicing federal policy analysts who, in a decade of service as policy researchers, developed sophisticated quantitative analytic and decision-making techniques. They then spent several years trying to use them in the real world. Success and failures are described in illuminating detail, providing insight not commonly found in such critiques. The authors delineate the interaction of politics and technical issues. Their book describes policy analysis as it is, not how it ought to be. Peter W. House is the director of policy research and analysis at the National Science Foundation. He is the author of ten books on multidisciplinary science and technology policy research and analyses in government, private, and university sectors, including The Art of Public Policy Analysis and with Roger D. Shull, Regulatory Reform: Politics and the Environment and Regulations and Science: Management of Research on Demand. Roger D. Shull is a senior analyst at the Division of Policy Research and Analysis, National Science Foundation.




The Practice of American Public Policymaking


Book Description

Designed for upper-level and professional courses, this text is a state-of-the-art introduction to the public policymaking process that gives equal attention to issues of policy implementation and public governance. It uses an innovative systems approach, integrating the activities, actors, tools, and techniques of policymaking, to provide a comprehensive framework for policy design and analysis. The book is practice-oriented, with a focus on the ways that policymakers at all levels employ the standard "technologies" of governance - authority, agency, program, rule, contract, and budget - to design policy outputs and achieve policy outcomes. Through extensive use of graphics, the text makes concepts easy to grasp for a generation of students accustomed to the visual presentation of ideas. Case studies illustrate the tools and techniques discussed, and key terms, questions for discussion, and suggested readings round out each chapter.




The Venture Capital State


Book Description

Silicon Valley has become shorthand for a globally acclaimed way to unleash the creative potential of venture capital, supporting innovation and creating jobs. In The Venture Capital State Robyn Klingler-Vidra traces how and why different states have adopted distinct versions of the Silicon Valley model. Venture capital seeks high rewards but is enveloped in high risk. The author’s deep investigations of venture capital policymaking in East Asian states (Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore) show that success does not reflect policymakers’ ability to replicate the Silicon Valley model. Instead, she argues, performance reflects their skill in adapting a highly lauded model to their local context. Policymakers are "contextually rational" in their learning; their context-rooted norms shape their preferences. The normative context for learning about policy—how elites see themselves and what they deem as locally appropriate—informs how they design their efforts. The Venture Capital State offers a novel conceptualization of rationality, bridging diametrically opposed versions of bounded and conventional rationality. This new understanding of rationality is simultaneously fully informed and context based, and it provides a framework by which analysts can bring domestic factors to the very heart of international diffusion of policy. Klingler-Vidra concludes that states have a visible hand in constituting even quintessentially neoliberal markets.