Disentangling the mechanistic chain for better policy design

Abstract

Understanding how policy design can incentivize, constrain, and otherwise structurepolicy targets behavior to achieve desired results is vital but requires a clear understanding of the mechanisms that link policy tools to actual behavior. More importantly, it requires reasoning in terms of the processes and interactions that can be activated by policy tools to accomplish desired results. It is therefore imperative that policy designers both those who study it and those who practice it understand and specify clearly the linkages between the input (policy design) and the output, via the intended and unintended processes triggered by the design. However, many existing analytical efforts focus only on shedding light on what is needed for good policy design and ignore how good policy design works interms of the types of processes that can be activated to achieve (or not) the desired results. As a result, we know little about how different solutions trigger and drive the achievement of intended outcomes. This chapter explores these issues and sets out the logic and findings of the other chapters in the book in advancing our understanding of policy mechanisms.