Causal logics and mechanisms in policy design: How and why adopting a mechanistic perspective can improve policy design

Abstract

Policy design undertakes to develop effective policies and hence must understand whether and how effective policies can be formulated and implemented. However, very often policy design has failed to focus on the causal chain that represents the actual driver of policy effects and thus misconstrues the potential effectiveness of a policy design. A mechanistic perspective is extremely helpful for conceptualising and pinpointing such causal chains, as it focuses on the real processes that must be activated by policy-makers in implementing policy designs. This article identifies the main steps to be taken when adopting such a mechanistic approach to policy design.