Combining the insights of an economist and a political scientist, this new third edition of Cases in Public Policy Analysis offers real world cases to provide students with the institutional and political dimensions of policy problems as well as easily understood principles and methods for analyzing public policies.
Guess and Farnham clearly explain such basic tools as problem-identification, forecasting alternatives, cost-effectiveness analysis, and cost-benefit analysis and show how to apply these tools to specific cases. The new edition offers a revised framework for policy analysis, practical guidelines for institutional assessment, and five new action-forcing cases. Up-to-date materials involving complex policy issues, such as education reform, cigarette smoking regulation, air pollution control, public transit capital planning, HIV/AIDS prevention strategies, and prison overcrowding are also included.
Bridging the gap between methods and their application in real life, Cases in Public Policy Analysis will be of interest to professors involved with upper-division and graduate-level policy courses, as well as an excellent sourcebook in applied policy training for government practitioners and consultants.
Table of Contents
Preface
1. The Policymaking Process: Between Technical Rationality and Politics
2. Problem Identification and Structuring
Case Study: Fighting Crime: The Case for Emptier Prisons
3. Forecasting Institutional Impacts on Public Policy Performance
Case Study: Washington, DC, School Reform
4. Forecasting Policy Options
Case Study: Transit Options for Metro's Purple Line
5. Pricing and Public Policy: The Case of Cigarette Taxes
Case Study: Cigarette Tax Clouds Boosts among States
6. Cost-Effectiveness Analysis: The Case of HIV Prevention Programs
Case Study: Fighting HIV, a Community at a Time
7. Cost-Benefit Analysis: The Case of Environmental Air Quality Standards
Case Study: The Debate over Ambient Air Quality Standards for Fine Particulate Matter
8. Summary and Conclusions
Glossary
Index
Reviews
"In this excellent book, Guess and Farnham provide the field's clearest explanation of the balance between democratic values, practical politics, and sound analysis. The techniques and tools described in this book will stimulate and inform real-world decision making. This is an excellent book for any policy analysis or policy process course."—Thomas Birkland, Kretzer Professor of Public Policy, North Carolina State University
"The third edition of Cases in Public Policy Analysis continues to provide a solid overview of the essential elements of policy analysis. The real world cases will challenge students as they build their analytic repertoire so that they may bring clarity to 'messy' problems. Guess and Farnham, you did it again!"—Jeffrey D. Straussman, Dean, Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy, University at Albany, SUNY
About the Author
George M. Guess is a scholar-in-residence in public administration and policy at American University.
Paul G. Farnham is an associate professor emeritus in the Department of Economics at the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies at Georgia State University.
