The Political Economic Sources of Policy Non-design, Policy Accumulation, and Decay in Policy Capacity

Abstract

This article problematizes the political economic drivers of policy (non-)design, instrument choice, and how prolonged non-design could trigger policy accumulation with serious implications for policy capacity. Focusing on the currency crisis-induced economic crisis in Turkey and relying on elite interviews and secondary resources, it argues that the design space, which is defined by the interactions between the credit-led growth model and the growth regime that prioritizes loose monetary and bank regulatory policies for higher economic growth rates, led to haphazard crisis response. Prolonged non-design in response to the crisis triggered policy accumulation and decay in systemic and organizational policy capacity.