27 Facts About Public policy

Public policy is an institutionalized proposal or a decided set of elements like laws, regulations, guidelines, and actions to solve or address relevant and real-world problems, guided by a conception and often implemented by programs.

Public policy can be considered to be the sum of government direct and indirect activities and has been conceptualized in a variety of ways.

Academics and other experts in Public policy studies have developed a range of tools and approaches to help in this task.

Public policy can be conceptualized in varying ways, according to the purposes of the speaker or author, and the characteristics of the situation they are concerned with.

One dividing line in conceptions of public policy is between those that see it primarily in terms of ideas and those that see it as a collection of empirical phenomena.

An example of conceiving public policy as ideas is a definition by Richard Titmuss: "the principles that govern action directed towards given ends".

One of the most known and controversial concepts of public policy is that of Thomas R Dye, according to whom "public policy is whatever governments choose to do or not to do".

Public policy is considered strong when it solves problems efficiently and effectively, serves and supports governmental institutions and policies, and encourages active citizenship.

Public policy is commonly embodied in "constitutions, legislative acts, and judicial decisions".

Public policy focuses on the decisions that create the outputs of a political system, such as transport policies, the management of a public health service, the administration of a system schooling and the organization of a defense force.

Much of public policy is concerned with evaluating decision-making in governments and public bureaucracies.

Public policy making can be characterized as a dynamic, complex, and interactive system through which public problems are identified and resolved through the creation of new policy or reform of existing policy.

The public problems that influence public policy making can be of economic, social, or political nature.

Therefore, John Kingdon's model suggests the Public policy window appears through the emergence and connection of problems, politics and policies, emphasizing an opportunity to stimulate and initiate new policies.

The Public policy is usually either continued as is, modified, or discontinued.

In public policy making, numerous individuals, corporations, non-profit organizations and interest groups compete and collaborate to influence policymakers to act in a particular way.

Public policy policies come from all governmental entities and at all levels: legislatures, courts, bureaucratic agencies, and executive offices at national, local and state levels.

Nevertheless, policy design is elemental for the succession of public policy, with it comes intricate and multi-level approaches but it is necessary for good, careful policy design to be considered before implementing the policy.

Data-driven Public policy is a Public policy designed by a government based on existing data, evidence, rational analysis and use of information technology to crystallize problems and highlight effective solutions.

Data-driven Public policy making aims to make use of data and collaborate with citizens to co-create Public policy.

Some examples of utilizing data science in public policy making are resource optimization, improving current public services, and fraud and error mitigation.

Evidence-based Public policy is associated with Adrian Smith because in his 1996 presidential address to the Royal Statistical Society, Smith questioned the current process of Public policy making and urged for a more "evidence-based approach" commenting that it has "valuable lessons to offer".

Still, the language of evidence-based Public policy is widely used and, as such, can be interpreted to reflect a desire for evidence to be used well or appropriately in one way or another – such as by ensuring systematic consideration of rigorous and high quality Public policy relevant evidence, or by avoiding biased and erroneous applications of evidence for political ends.

Drawback of using AI in public policy making and implementation is the concept of "algorithmic bias".

However, the wave of economic globalization that occurred in the late 20th and early 21st centuries created a need for a subset of public policy that focused on global governance, especially as it relates to issues that transcend national borders such as climate change, terrorism, nuclear proliferation, and economic development.

Consequently, many traditional public policy schools had to adjust their curricula to better suit this new policy landscape, as well as develop entirely new curricula altogether.

One of the biggest controversies of public policy is that policy making is often influenced by lobbyists such as big corporations in order to sway policies in their favour.