Policy Design Primer

Michael Howlett is Burnaby Mountain Professor and Canada Research Chair (Tier 1) in the Department of Political Science at Simon Fraser University, Canada. He specializes in public policy analysis, political economy and resource and environmental policy.

"Michael Howlett’s Policy Design Primer usefully distils over forty years of research and practice into a single, highly accessible volume. The bad news is that a surprisingly large amount of public policy fails to deliver what it promises. But armed with this book, students and practitioners are more likely to discover what works, when and for whom – vital pre-requisites for more effective societal problem solving." - Professor Andrew Jordan, University of East Anglia, UK."How might governments choose the most appropriate tool for achieving desired policy goals and objectives? How might they uncover innovative and durable solutions? Howlett’s The Policy Design Primer: Choosing the Right Tools for the Job provides, in one place, the critical theoretical, conceptual and analytical tools for making informed decisions in a highly complex and globalized world. The book is must reading for government and bureaucratic officials seeking to manage complex problems that often demand, and can benefit from, drawing on procedural tools that integrate key stakeholders into public management design and practice, and substantive instruments that can steer policy subsystems towards meaningful results. A tour deforce in its integration of conceptual breadth, analytical scope and practical insights." – Professor Benjamin Cashore, Yale University, USA.

• Part I: Policy Design in the Modern State 1. Basic Concepts and Vocabulary 2. Systematically Studying Policy Design: The Logic of Tool Use Part II: The Building Blocks of Policy Designs 3. Organizational Implementation Tools 4. Authoritative Implementation Tools 5. Financial Implementation Tools 6. Information-based Implementation Tools Part III: Principles for Designing Policies and Programmes 7. Assembling and Evaluating an Effective Policy Design