This document discusses the nature of policy analysis. It defines policy analysis as the examination and evaluation of policy options to address public issues. An effective process involves empirical research, data collection, and input from stakeholders. The document then provides a brief history of the field, outlining how it has evolved from a focus on institutions to include analysis of actual policy content and processes. It describes the most common four-step model used in policy analysis: 1) describing problems and solutions, 2) determining costs, 3) determining outcomes, and 4) making recommendations. The document concludes by discussing traditional views on the nature of public policy.

1. Nature of policy
analysis
Cristina C. Buada
Discussant
PHD-ORGANIZATION AND PUBLIC POLICY
DR. MADLYN TINGCO
Professor

2. Social, economic, and
political variables influence policy
decisions and outcomes in public
administration. To develop, adopt,
and implement policies that have
the greatest benefits, individuals in
public administration must master
the concept of policy analysis.

3. What is policy analysis? According to
Encyclopedia Britannica, it is the examination
and evaluation of available options to address
various economic, social, or other public issues.
Effective policy analysis, whether to enact new
policies or amending existing ones, is critical in
the policy-making process. The process includes
many facets, involving empirical research and
statistical data collection, as well as the
participation of key stakeholders such as
economists, community members, and public
officials tasked with enacting policy.

4. Policy Analysis at a
Glance
Modern society is complex and growing more
so every day. Governments rely on a robust
array of policies to address a web of
interconnected challenges related to issues
like public safety, education, and
infrastructure. Individuals involved in public
administration may find it challenging to
identify the best way to tackle those
challenges. What is the most effective way
to improve air quality? How can a society
optimize access to education? How should a
municipal government pay for an expensive
infrastructure project?
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5. Policy Analysis at a Glance
Policy analysis is a relatively young field of study.
Traditionally, institutions and the processes of public policy-
making were the primary concern of social scientists and political
scientists. In 1951 sociologist Daniel Lerner (1917–1980) and
political scientist Harold Lasswell (1902–1978) introduced the
concept of “the policy sciences.” Their work is often cited as the
foundation for the evolution of how public policies are studied.
Over time, the traditional approach expanded to include analysis of
the content and process of actual policies, a discipline that is now
commonly referred to as policy analysis.
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6. HISTORY OF POLICY ANALYSIS
Many histories of modern policy analysis trace its
intellectual origins to Harold Lasswell's books and
articles in the early 1950s. Lasswell, a Yale
professor, advocated the development of new policy
sciences. As Lasswell envisioned them, the policy
sciences would change the social sciences in two
ways: by moving them toward more interdisciplinary
cooperation and by tightly focusing their research
on societal problems. Lasswell's call for an applied,
problem oriented branch of social science struck a
chord, and numerous applied studies of policy soon
followed.
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7. HISTORY OF POLICY ANALYSIS
Decade by decade, the field of policy analysis grew in
influence. By the 1970s many of the most
prestigious universities began to develop schools
of public policy and offer public policy degrees. By
the 1980s the federal government required the
incorporation of policy analyses in many budget and
regulatory proposals. By the early twenty-first
century, public policy analysis had become a major
tool at all levels of government, as well as in
nonprofit agencies, outside think tanks,
and lobbying groups.
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8. STEPS OF POLICY ANALYSIS
Most analysts in government use a four-step model
of policy analysis:
1.Describe a problem, and set forth several specific
policy solutions to the problem. (For example, if the
problem is recurring traffic tie-ups along the main
road in River City, two possible solutions are expanding
the existing road or creating a new bus lane along
adding more buses.)
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9. STEPS OF POLICY ANALYSIS
2. Determine the costs of each considered policy
alternative.
3.Determine the outcomes (i.e., the impacts or effects) of
all considered policy alternatives. (For example, the
expanded road will likely decrease traffic waiting times by
100,000 person-hours per year but will likely increase
some forms of air pollution by 9 percent.)
4.Make a final recommendation.
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10. The following are traditional views regarding
the nature of public policy:
(1.) Woodrow Wilson, who is arguably the
father of modern public administration,
contends, “public policy is the laws and
regulations which are made by legislative
statesmen and implemented by public
administration personnel” (as cited in Wu
Qiyuan, 1985, p. 4).This definition is obviously
characterized by “the dichotomy between
politics and administration,” which narrows the
scope and limits the range of public
policymakers.
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11. Conclusion
Public policy has the power to reduce subjective or objective
difference in order to bring solutions to public problems. The nature of
public policy, therefore, is government; and government takes its own
interests and public interests into consideration as it chooses to reduce
objective or subjective difference in order to solve public problems
effectively and expeditiously. Public policy can directly adjust social
interest relations to reduce objective difference by exercising three
positive functions: production, allocation, and exchange of public
interests. However, it also has the option of setting public interests
aside and merely mitigating public dissatisfaction by reducing or
diverting public expectation to reduce subjective difference.
Furthermore, government must guard and restrain public policy’s
inherent negative consumption function of public interests.

12. References:
> 1.https://www.academia.edu/
> On the Nature of Public Policy by Martha Lusa
> Policy Analysis Notes on Nature and Teaching by
Alessandro Colombo
> 2.https://go.gale.com/ps/tabID=T003&searchId
=R2&searchType=BasicSearchForm&userGroupN
ame=phpsu&inPS=true&prodId=GVRL&contentSe
t=GALE&docId=GALE|CX3629100497
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