The International Library of Comparative Public Policy series – serie

This authoritative collection, which includes a new introduction surveying the fields, contains key contributions from the comparative literature on the politics of income maintenance policy.In recent years theoretical work has been dominated by Gosta Esping-Andersen's regime theory. This volume demonstrates how that theory, together with arguments on convergence and path-dependency, has been applied to the comparative study of income maintenance policy. It highlights issues about the difference between social insurance and social assistance and about the important differences in the way women and families are treated. The collection looks at the literature that seeks to explain cutbacks, or their absence, highlighting issues about pensions policy.Income Maintenance Policy will be an invaluable source of literature for researchers, students and policymakers alike.

The election of the Clinton administration in the United States and the debate in the European Community about the consequences of the industrial policy clause in the Maastricht treaty have put industrial policy back on the academic and political agenda again. This volume brings together the key articles on industrial policy, ranging from general theoretical perspectives and overviews of the literature to studies of the experience of particular countries, including Japan and the newly industrialising countries of East Asia. Four articles are concerned with the industrial programmes of the European Community. This is a comprehensive and authoritative compilation of work on a theme of interest to economists and political scientists.

This volume provides the most important essays and papers on urban and regional policy, making it a convenient summary of the key theories, approaches and research results.The study of sub-national politics is no longer mainly concerned with the urban political decision-making process and now focuses on the political, economic and social preconditions for urban policy. As the articles and papers reprinted in this volume demonstrate, local and regional politics are increasingly important features of most Western democracies. Economic and political life are more and more determined by changes occurring at the local, regional and global levels rather than at the national level. This volume seeks to cover the most important elements of research on local government with a particular emphasis on different approaches and theories of urban political economy. The volume covers, in turn, the study of urban politics and government, theories of local government, central-local relationships and local autonomy, local politics, the political economy of local government and regional policy.

For governments to be successful in achieving their objectives, they need to select the correct policy instruments. This volume addresses the role of policy instruments in achieving policy objectives.Policy Evaluation provides a systematic assessment of the impact that public policy evaluations have on the governance of democratic societies. This book emphasises the impacts of policy evaluations on the formulation, implementation and accountability functions of governments. At all three phases of the policy cycle, there is a need for coherent and systematic evaluation. This book demonstrates how such evaluations can be conducted and the opportunities for their subsequent utilization.

This important two-volume set presents the most significant published literature on both the national and international dimensions of environmental policy. In Volume I, the articles by leading scholars in the field offer reviews of the comparative literature on national environmental policies and compare the changes in awareness of environmental issues in Europe, the US and Japan. They investigate how different countries have established the institutions to deal with environmental policy making and explore how the polices are implemented and the results they achieve. Volume II is devoted to the international scene. It reviews the theoretical research on international environmental policy, explores the politics and problems of international policymaking, examines the connections between national and international environmental policies and investigates the impact of international policy agreements on individual nations and their effectiveness. This authoritative collection will be invaluable to all students, academics, politicians and policymakers who have an interest in environmental policy.

Economic Policy presents an authoritative selection of articles which have played a key role in influencing the direction of economic theory and methodology and thus the policy presecriptions which macroeconomists give to decision-makers. Volume I contains the most influential articles which have shaped the main debates in macroeconomic theory since its foundation. It covers such topics as the debate between Keynes and the Keynesians, the dispute between Keynes and the monetarists, the rational expectation revolution and critiques of that approach, and the debate between New Classical theorists and 'new' Keynesian theorists. Also included are papers which have defined alternative methodological approaches to modelling the macroeconomy.Volume II investigates some important applications of economic policy analysis. It examines some of the key economic problems on the political agenda such as the record of monetarism, the problems of trade and structural unemployment, European monetary integration and the reform of post-Communist societies and assesses the extent to which economic research throws light on these problems.

This authoritative new volume contains a selection of the most important articles and papers spanning over 20 years on budgeting and managing public spending. It is divided into five succinct parts, covering the main areas of the field including the political-economic environment, approaches to expenditure budgeting and implementing the budget. Donald Savoie does not limit his examples to just one country - budgeting and spending is discussed in a variety of countries, including the UK, Australia, New Zealand, America, Canada and Spain. He has also written a new introduction to accompany the piece. All those with an interest in government spending, budgeting and how finances are controlled will find this work - which includes articles and papers not immediately accessible - an essential reference tool.

Science and technology policy is widely recognized as a critically important sphere of state activity. This book presents an authoritative overview of comparative research on science and technology policy in order to illuminate the choices that confront decision makers in this field. With contributions from various disciplines including economics, political science, law and science and technology studies, the selection of articles reflects both traditional perspectives and those which challenge conventional assumptions. The book covers such topics as the relationship between science and the state, and comparisons of how different governments seek to support and regulate scientific research, technology, industrial innovation and global competitiveness. Finally it looks at how international influences can affect national policies.

Tax Policy provides a comprehensive collection of the most important and widely-cited articles on tax politics and policy. Essays by the leading political scientists, economists and lawyers in the field cover the key intellectual dilemmas and policy issues in the field of taxation.Topics covered include: the foundations of tax policy; an exploration of the public's attitude to taxes and taxation; the principles behind the making of tax policy; tax incentives and tax expenditure; the need for tax reform in the late 1980s and the form of these changes; and the relationship between internationalization and domestic tax policy choices

Criminal Justice Policy is an authoritative collection of previously published writings addressing the most important issues which have dominated the field during the past fifteen years.Topics covered include: international perspectives on the extent and nature of crime; theoretical explanations for the onset, escalation and termination of criminal behaviour; the social context of crime; evaluating alternative crime policy options; crime control policy and the future.Criminal Justice Policy should be required reading for community leaders, for policymakers at all levels of government and for members of the general public actively interested in creating more effective crime policies.

Health Policy presents the key classic and contemporary articles and will be an important source of reference for health care professionals, academics and policymakers. It sheds light on the values and socio-political factors which underpin health policy, and will be invaluable in helping to assess and compare policymaking processes in different countries. The volume is divided into six sections and within each section the articles are presented chronologically. Thus the selection is suitable for both the beginner and the more advanced student; the beginner will benefit from the earlier readings by observing their cumulative impact on later writings, while the more advanced student may find the more up-to-date articles of particular interest. Section I introduces several basic values which underlie all health policies; section II reviews the socio-economic and political factors in health policy; section III deals with the experience and practice of American health care while section IV offers comparisons with other countries in Europe and also with Japan. Section V examines the opportunities and constraints for countries' learning from each other and finally section VI raises methodological issues and indicates the challenges which must be addressed in the future.

Transport is a fundamental component of all modern economies. Transport Policy presents a wide ranging collection of previously published articles which aim to provide the reader with an understanding of the main elements of transport policy.Topics covered include: the objectives of transport policy, policy options, policy analysis and, through a series of case studies, policy implementation. This volume will be of particular interest to those academics and policymakers seeking an overview of the most important issues in the modern transport policy arena.

There have been dramatic changes in education policy throughout the world in the final quarter of the 20th Century. This important volume presents an invaluable collection of previously published and specially commissioned articles which capture these major changes in educational policy.Driven by demands for efficiency and performance, traditional liberal views of education as promoting and providing the ideals of an educated elite and empowered autonomous individuals have been supplanted. Increasingly there have been moves from localized and national policies towards international policies, and a closer integration of schools into the world. Education policy and associated management styles have overtly incorporated current market-led economic theories and in major western nations where education has been seen as a traditional welfare right, policy has moved to a commodification of education and to various forms of privatisation. Topics include Education Policy: Definition, Analysis, Criticism and Research; Economics: Markets and Development; Education Policy and the State; Race, Development and Culture; and Social Justice, Literacy and New Technologies.Education Policy will be an indispensable reference source for students, researchers and practitioners.

Privatization is now a universal practice and is the result of a set of interrelated factors, all of which are explored in this collection. Privatization has also become an academic industry, generating a vast outpouring of books and articles.This authoritative two volume collection, which includes a new introduction by the editors, concentrates on the public policy of privatization, and explores its dimensions by presenting key theoretical and empirical articles. The volumes are also clearly interdisciplinary, bringing together for the first time articles informed by political science, economics and sociology.The collection will be invaluable for both practitioners and academics, especially those involved in the study of applied economics, public policy and political science.