Example of a wicked problem – tropical storms, property.pptVIP

Example of a “wicked problem” – tropical storms, property damage, human mortality PDI = “Power Dissipation Index,” a measure of a hurricane’s energy. Unanticipated causes and consequences: some examples: Federal insurance policies weather forecasting improvements economic affluence culture of leisure population growth Empirical and normative approaches to policy analysis All approaches to policy analysis – seek to explain why certain policies are established, and the consequences they bring about: Empirical approaches – draw principally from behavioral social sciences to explain why things occur and the significance we should attach to them. Normative approaches – derived principally from analytical philosophy, try – to establish what makes a policy approach “good” or “bad,” and/or right or virtuous. Approaches are usually employed in tandem! Some major empirical approaches and their significance Rational economic models – 18th Century (J.S. Mill, J. Bentham). Public policies are based on articulation of cumulative individual choices – from a normative standpoint, this approach serve as a justification (to some) of the efficacy of utilitarianism. Public choice approaches – a modern variant of rational choice based on insights from political science. Assumes people act rationally, but do so within the context of groups, not as individuals. They join coalitions of like minded individuals in order to enhance both choices, and their power in obtaining them (motives may vary – from egoism/hedonism to justice). State capacity approach – preferred policies and their achievement depend, to a large extent, on the ability of a polity to amass the resources, and administrative competence, to develop a set of policies over some social concern and then carry them out (David Apter, Samuel Huntington, Theda Skocpol). Variants of public choice Institutional rational choice – imperfect information, organizational impediments, and limits of our cognition constrain