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Does Policy Analysis Matter? Exploring Its Effectiveness in Theory and Practice

Online ISBN:
9780520962538
Print ISBN:
9780520287396
Publisher:
University of California Press
Book

Does Policy Analysis Matter? Exploring Its Effectiveness in Theory and Practice

Lee S. Friedman (ed.)
Lee S. Friedman
(ed.)
University of California, Berkeley
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Published online:
18 January 2018
Published in print:
14 March 2017
Online ISBN:
9780520962538
Print ISBN:
9780520287396
Publisher:
University of California Press

Abstract

How well can democratic decision making incorporate the knowledge and expertise generated by public policy analysts? This book examines the historical development of policy analysis (a new professional class of advisors that began developing during the 1950s in the United States), as well as its use in legislative and regulatory bodies and in the federal executive branch. The chapters show that policy-analytic expertise effectively improves governmental services only when it complements democratic decision making. When successful, policy analysis fosters valuable new ideas, better use of evidence, and greater transparency in decision processes. The book concludes by assessing the development and impact of the policy-analytic profession and suggests that the growth in the voluntary employment of analysts not only by governments of all types as well as private sector and nonprofit agencies is a key indicator of the profession's effectiveness and value.

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