Public Finance Public Policy Paper

1. Public FinancePublic Policy Paper Igor Baranov Graduate School of Management, St. Petersburg University

2. Public Policy Paper: General Requirements • Groups of 4 students • 25% of the total score for the course • What is graded? - In-class presentation (10 minutes) according to the schedule - Written paper submitted AFTER presentation (deadline: April 28, 2009), up to 5,000 words • Evaluation: - Following Writing Public Policy Paper guidelines - Quality of presentation - Q&A session for the group • Reference: Writing Effective Public Policy Papers by E.Young and L.Quinn. OSI, 2002.

3. Public Administration: Roles and Professions • Politicians • Civil servants • Policy analysts • Researchers • Managers in public sector organizations • Business-government relations analysts in private companies

4. Policy Study vs Policy Analysis • Policy study • Who: researchers / academics • Where: universities, research institutes • What: to understand and inform the policy-making process by carrying out primary research into specific policy issues • Policy analysis • Who: analysts • Where: think tanks / policy centers • What: designing actual policy to be implemented Policy studies are issue-driven, whereas policy analyses are client-driven

6. The Policy Cycle • Problem definition / Agenda setting Show that a problem exists that requires government action • Constructing the Policy Alternatives / Policy Formulation Consider all possible solutions • Choice of Solution / Selection of Preferred Policy Option Evaluate each option and choose your preferred one • Policy design Choosing a policy instrument and a delivery organization mix • Policy implementation and monitoring • Evaluation A policy paper can influence any or all stages of the policy cycle

7. Paper Checklist • Which stage(s) in the policy-making process are you trying to influence through your policy paper? • Which stakeholders have been/are involved at each stage of the policy-making process? Who is your “client”? • Have you identified a clear problem to address? Can you summarize it in two sentences? • Do you have sufficiently comprehensive evidence to support your claim that a problem exists? • Have you outlined and evaluated the possible policy options that could solve this problem? What evaluation criteria did you use? • Have you decided on a preferred alternative? • Do you have sufficient evidence to effectively argue for your chosen policy alternative over the others? • Prepare “Elevator speech”

8. Policy Paper: Structure • Title • Table of contents • Abstract / Executive summary • Introduction • Problem description • Policy options • Conclusions and recommendations • Bibliography • Appendices

9. Abstract / Executive Summary • Purpose of the paper • Definition and description of the policy problem • Evaluation of policy alternatives • Conclusion and recommendations

10. Introduction • Context of the policy problem • Definition of the policy problem • Statement of intent • Methodology and limitations of the study • Road map of the paper

11. Conclusion and Recommendations • Synthesis of major findings • highlights main points from the problem description and policy options elements • Set of policy recommendations • Concluding remarks

12. Writing Style • Write by paragraphs! • Paragraph has to indicate both logical and physical breaks in the text