Policy Problems Research Articles

Policy-driven food security: investigating the impact of China’s maize subsidy policy reform on farmer’ productivity

IntroductionChina is the largest producer, consumer, and trader of grain. Changes in China’s agricultural policies will affect global food trade and thus impact food security. In this paper, we use China’s maize subsidy system reform (MSSR) as a quasi-natural experiment to investigate the impact of market-oriented reforms in price support policy on the productivity of grain.MethodsWe use official Chinese government panel data on farm households and a PSM-DID model to overcome the endogeneity problem of policy change.Results and discussionThe empirical results show that MSSR can increase maize productivity. The MSSR is divided into two phases: eliminating the maize purchase price and implementing maize producer subsidies. The policy effect of eliminating the purchase price exceeds the implementation of producer subsidies. Further analysis reveals that for farmers with a larger scale of cultivation, higher level of specialization, and higher degree of part-time employment, the MSSR enhances their productivity more significantly. In the high quartile, the MSSR reduces farmers’ productivity. In the low quartile, the MSSR raises farmers’ productivity, suggesting that the MSSR reduces the productivity differences among farmers. The results of our study suggest that market-based reform of price subsidies is an effective institutional arrangement to mitigate resource mismatch and increase food productivity, and point to the need to continue to improve the MSSR, explore diversified maize producer subsidy policies, and take into account the impact of other subsidies on farmers’ maize production behavior.

How has stakeholder theory served the public administration literature? In search of the intellectual structure of the field

ABSTRACT This investigation aims to contribute to the intellectual structure of public administration stakeholder theory. There is a need for dedicated effort to understand the real contribution of the most cited references in the field. The literature review is carried out using bibliometric and lexical analyses. The main conclusion is that articles have used concepts from four theoretical bases: collaborative governance, stakeholder salience, legitimacy, and wicked policy problems. This represents a step forward in the existing literature on public administration stakeholder theory extant literature as we advocate the return to using stakeholders to explain performance determinants.

Citizen science as a vehicle to address multiple policy objectives: Case studies from Australia.

Despite increasing interest in citizen science as an approach to engage members of the public in research and decision making about health and wellbeing, there is a lack of practical evidence to guide policy and practice organisations to utilise these approaches. In this study we investigated how and why citizen science came to be incorporated into the work of two policy organisations. We offer two in-depth case studies of Australian government organisations which have utilised citizen science in environmental and healthy ageing policy. Interviews with organisational informants and relevant documents were analysed inductively to explore how citizen science came to be adopted, legitimised and supported. Citizen science was utilised to address multiple organisational objectives, including increasing community participation in science; enhancing individuals' wellbeing, learning, and skills, and generating data to support research and policy in a relatively cost-effective manner. In both cases, grant funding was a mechanism to support citizen science, with project delivery facilitated through academic-policy partnerships and led by external academic or community partners. Although citizen science is relatively new in policy and practice settings, this study underscores the value of these approaches in realising co-benefits for organisations, academics, and community members. The support and advocacy of senior managers as 'champions', and a willingness to invest in trialling new approaches to address policy problems are necessary ingredients to foster acceptance and legitimacy of citizen science. SO WHAT?: Citizen science initiatives can be strategically utilised by health promotion organisations to enact priorities related to genuine community involvement, support research and innovation and facilitate collaboration and partnerships between academic, policy and community stakeholders.

An efficient ciphertext-policy weighted attribute-based encryption with collaborative access for cloud storage

The encryption of user data is crucial when employing cloud storage services to guarantee the security of these data stored on cloud servers. Attribute-based encryption (ABE) scheme is considered a powerful encryption technique that offers flexible and fine-grained access control capabilities. Further, the multi-user collaborative access ABE scheme additionally supports users to acquire access authorization through collaborative works. However, the existing multi-user collaborative access ABE schemes do not consider the different weights of collaboration users. Therefore, using these schemes for weighted multi-user collaborative access results in either redundant attributes or unsuccessful construction of the access control structure. For this, we proposes the special attribute policy (SAP) problem about weighted multi-user collaborative access, and presents an efficient ciphertext-policy weighted attribute-based encryption with collaborative access scheme (CP-WABE-CA), which can provide efficient collaborative access control for multiple users with different weights. In detail, this scheme utilizes a novel weighted access tree to prevent attribute repetition, thereby eliminating redundant attributes and addressing the issue of constructing access control structures. We prove our scheme is resistant against chosen plaintext attack. The experimental results demonstrate that our scheme has significant computational efficiency advantages compared to related works, without increasing storage or communication overhead. Therefore, the CP-WABE-CA scheme can provide an efficient flexible weighted collaborative access control mechanisms for cloud storage.

Policy brief: Learning from Italy to promote sustainability education in Hong Kong

Education is recognised as an integral part of building the capacity of all ages to drive the transformation toward sustainable development. While the Hong Kong government aspires to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 and has ramped up efforts to integrate sustainability into school curricula and raise public awareness through educational activities, this policy brief argues that Hong Kong’s existing measures failed to empower and motivate individuals and the community to keep pace with its climate action ambition. Drawing on Sterling's framework of education for sustainability (EFS), this paper presents a diagnosis of Hong Kong’s major problems in sustainability education policies and suggests that the Hong Kong government should learn from the Italian experience to take a more systemic, empowering, and democratic approach in advancing its EFS policies.

Projection Forecasting Policy of Buton Asphalted Mining Management in Indonesia

Asphalt, which is the result of lubricating coal minerals (non-renewable), requires effective management from the government which is realized through rational policies. Efficient policy planning is needed to overcome policy problems without causing major consequences. This research aims to develop selected policy alternatives through selecting alternative policies for managing Buton asphalt mines in Buton Regency. The focus of this research is public policy analysis, namely methods for identifying problems, determining goals, evaluating alternative options, selecting alternatives, and measuring policy performance. This research, only focusing on the best alternative for management policies for the Buton asphalt mine in Kab. Buton. This research aims to analyze and identify: selected policy alternatives to be recommended in the management of asphalt mines in Kab. Buton. The approach used is mixed method. In problem formulation, using descriptive qualitative, to project policy alternatives using public policy analysis techniques through three stages (I), problem formulation techniques (hierarchy), developing into the Projection Forecasting method (extrapolative), ending with alternative selection based on Franklin's criteria. Alternative method looks at the consequences of each policy are equivalent to scoring based on technical, economic, financial and administrative feasibility. The research results show that there are three alternatives developed based on projection forecasting (extrapolative) assessments, namely: structuring institutional authority in asphalt mining management (2.36), strengthening Buton asphalt policy as a leading sector in Buton Regency (2.82), consistency policy in the preparation of Buton asphalt mine management policies (3.18). The selection of consistent alternatives for developing Buton asphalt mine management policies is the most prominent and has a fairly high probability of success and can be carried out. Where policy consistency through social mapping and domestic policy obligations increasing a larger portion for optimal domestic use (distribution to regions for use of State roads) can encourage the use of Buton asphalt nationally. If this condition continues, economic growth can continue. Alternative consistency in preparing Buton asphalt mine management policies in making Buton asphalt mine management policies is the best alternative choice for Buton asphalt mine management policies in Buton Regency.

Navigating divergent perspectives on critical habitat designation: Insights from the little bustard (Tetrax tetrax) conservation in Spain

The designation of critical habitats is a conservation tool extensively used worldwide. Although the effectiveness of this tool has been proved globally, its implementation in Spain is scarce, probably due to the ambiguous character of its definition in policy and other related problems. This study provides insight into some of these aspects and how different groups of experts interpret the concept of critical habitat. We used the little bustard (Tetrax tetrax) as a case study of an endangered species for which critical habitats must be designated. We interviewed 47 experts of the species, from researchers to environmental agency technicians, about the objectives that critical habitats should address, and which facilitating and constraining aspects should be considered in such designation. By grouping the answers in different categories and running ordination analyses (Non-Metric Multidimensional Scaling) we found that researchers mainly focused on ecological objectives for critical habitats, compared to the rest of the respondents who also considered socioeconomic aspects as basic objectives for critical habitats. Only 36% of the experts mentioned ecological factors as constraints to such designation, while socioeconomic constraints were mentioned by all but two of the experts (96%). These results suggest differences in the conceptualization of critical habitat between scientists and managers, from pure ecological requirements of the species to the actual implications and socioeconomic constraints of its implementation, respectively. Integrating multiple stakeholders and views will reflect these differences into the operational understanding of critical habitats and will ensure that future critical habitat designations are effective management tools.

Exploring policy coherence to understand limited progress of gender and social inclusion in the energy sector: The case of Nepal

Goal 7 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) aims to ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy for all by 2030 but securing universal access to energy supplies remains a challenge worldwide. There is increased recognition that gender and social inclusion (GESI) is critical for the transition towards low-carbon energy.Nepal's inclusive 2015 Constitution, and its 2021 federal-level Gender Equality Policy translate this commitment. Likewise, Nepal is committed to SDG 7. Yet energy policy includes only limited provisions for ensuring energy access by marginalized groups and women. This paper focuses on energy policy coherence to identify cohesion between policies and policy instruments at different levels of governance to identify bottlenecks to GESI. Using a policy coherence and feminist policy approach within an energy justice context, it traces the coherence of GESI policy through time and in relation to overall GESI policy objectives. Horizontal and internal coherence are assessed through the parallels/disjoints between energy-related periodic plans, policies, budgets, and GESI aims. The evolution of GESI in energy investments has been slow in part because of a narrow conceptualization of the policy problem and a lack of coherence and synchronization across documents, which undermines implementation of the GESI agenda.

SOCIAL POLICY: THEORY, METHODOLOGY AND PRACTICAL ASPECTS OF TEACHING AND IMPLEMENTATION IN THE PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITY OF SOCIAL WORKERS

The scientific article represented an analysis of theoretical and methodological approaches to the study and teaching of social policy. The concept of "Social policy" is defined as a synthesis of theoretical and methodological approaches, as an educational discipline for students - future social workers, and as a practical activity aimed at reducing social tension in society and a tool of social justice. The author of the article analyzes the key problems of studying the problems of social policy and methods of teaching the discipline "Social Policy" in the period of a full-scale invasion. The main accents of the scientific publication are the principles, values, and effective tools of the state's social policy. Innovative teaching methods can help students - future social workers to understand the main problems of socio-economic inequality, gender aspects of social policy, methods, and directions of social protection of vulnerable categories of the population. Discussion of the results of sociological research, publications, and development of own projects made a great contribution to the development of critical thinking. The connection of the main directions and methods of social policy with the functioning and development of leading social institutions will help the practical implementation of knowledge in the everyday reality of social workers. Examples of discussions and realization of practical cases during the teaching of Social Policy as an educational discipline are offered for the analysis of social initiatives and programs in the context of various models of social policy. The active using of practical experience in the implementation of social programs and initiatives is proposed in the scientific article

How framing strategies foster robust policy ideas

Abstract In this contribution, we identify how the framing strategies employed by policy and political actors make policy ideas robust. We examine the policy ideas of solidarity and sustainability to show how framing strategies that took advantages of the valence and polysemy of both ideas shaped them into robust policy ideas. Both ideas began as wide-ranging concepts designed to build coalitions in debates over a particular large-scale policy problem. Robustness is a quality that emerged over time as these ideas grew to become highly attractive framing devices to justify policy proposals. Moreover, they have proven to be resilient despite changing circumstances or even efforts of their opponents to reframe them in a negative way.

Artificial intelligence and complex sustainability policy problems: translating promise into practice

Addressing sustainability policy challenges requires tools that can navigate complexity for better policy processes and outcomes. Attention on Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools and expectations for their use by governments have dramatically increased over the past decade. We conducted a narrative review of academic and grey literature to investigate how AI tools are being used and adapted for policy and public sector decision-making. We found that academics, governments, and consultants expressed positive expectations about AI, arguing that AI could or should be used to address a wide range of policy challenges. However, there is much less evidence of how public decision makers are actually using AI tools or detailed insight into the outcomes of use. From our findings we draw four lessons for translating the promise of AI into practice: 1) Document and evaluate AI’s application to sustainability policy problems in the real-world; 2) Focus on existing and mature AI technologies, not speculative promises or external pressures; 3) Start with the problem to be solved, not the technology to be applied; and 4) Anticipate and adapt to the complexity of sustainability policy problems.

Stochastic credibility and optimal monetary policy

AbstractIn this paper, I study optimal monetary policy in a simple New Keynesian model with loose commitment and stochastic credibility. The loose commitment framework breaks the commitment‐discretion dichotomy in optimal monetary policy problems and allows for intermediate cases between commitment and discretion. Under this framework, the central bank is imperfectly credible, meaning that it occasionally reneges on promised policy plans. I contribute to the literature by introducing time‐variation in the central bank's credibility. I model credibility as an exogenous two‐state Markov chain and use a recursive saddlepoint functional equation to solve the model. I find that greater persistence and frequency of credibility losses increase welfare losses.

The critical factors in producing high quality and policy-relevant research: insights from international behavioural science units

Background: There has been a rapid increase in the number of, and demand for, organisations offering behavioural science advice to government over the last ten years. Yet we know little of the state of science and the experiences of these evidence providers. Aims and objectives: To identify current practice in this emerging field and the factors that impact on the production of high-quality and policy-relevant research. Methods: A qualitative study using one-to-one interviews with representatives from a purposeful sample of 15 units in the vanguard of international behavioural science research in policy. The data were analysed thematically. Findings: Relationships with policymakers were important in the inception of units, research conduct, implementation and dissemination of findings. Knowledge exchange facilitated a shared understanding of policy issues/context, and of behavioural science. Sufficient funding was crucial to maintain critical capacity in the units’ workforces, build a research portfolio beneficial to policymakers and the units, and to ensure full and transparent dissemination. Discussion and conclusion: Findings highlight the positive impact of strong evidence-provider/user relationships and the importance of governments’ commitment to co-produced research programmes to address policy problems and transparency in the dissemination of methods and findings. From the findings we have created a framework, ‘STEPS’ (Sharing, Transparency, Engagement, Partnership, Strong relationships), of five recommendations for units working with policymakers. These findings will be of value to all researchers conducting research on behalf of government.

The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Algorithms

We calculate the social return on algorithmic interventions (specifically, their marginal value of public funds (MVPF)) across multiple domains of interest to economists—regulation, criminal justice, medicine, and education. Though these algorithms are different, the results are similar and striking. Each one has an MVPF of infinity: not only does it produce large benefits, it provides a “free lunch.” We do not take these numbers to mean these interventions ought to be necessarily scaled but rather that much more research and development should be devoted to developing and carefully evaluating algorithmic solutions to policy problems.

The biomedicalisation of ageing policies: a comparative analysis of public administration and expertise in Canada, the United States and Sweden

This article explores how the biomedicalisation of ageing permeates the fields of public administration and public policy. We posit that the biomedicalisation of ageing policies depends strongly on: (1) the institutionalisation of ageing policy, both with regard to ministerial responsibility for programmes targeting older adults and the construction of ageing as a healthcare policy problem within the state apparatus; and (2) the dominant presence of health experts and professionals in the policy-making process in the field of ageing. We present a comparative analysis featuring three countries (Canada, Sweden and the US) with different administrative configurations and policy mixes in relation to older adults. We conclude that the biomedicalisation of ageing expertise is strongest in Canada and the US, and weakest in Sweden. The delegation of long-term care responsibility to municipalities and the strong commitment to develop and include social science expertise explains the Swedish outcome. The article provides illustrations as to why this distinction matters in policy making and in the day-to-day lives of older adults, and why it should be explored in other countries around the globe.

A STUDY ON ETHICAL PRACTICES OF PUBLIC SECTOR BANKS IN THIRUVANANTHAPURAM DISTRICT

The bank is now a larger and representative institution for the protection of funds and financial of the society. A banker performs many more task than mere regular and conventional banking. As such the role and status of the banker in the modern society has changed significantly. When the banker has acquired a new status and role in the society it should perform the duty in a more diligent and appropriate manner. The performance of the duty has a definite relationship with the kind of ethical practices, values, and system The present study was undertaken the ethical practices of public sector banks in Thiruvananthapuram district. The study mainly focuses on the importance of ethical practices and value building exercise in organizations. The proper functioning of an organization requires various rules and regulations, principles and policies. Due to different type and nature of organizations, the policy formulation and problem solving strategy differs from one organization to other. However, in every work place, the organization adopts a set of rules and policies which are essential for its growth and development. Among various factors, the implementation and adhering to ethical practice and value building is the main foundation for the regulation of organization. Yet, to examine factors as to understand the implication of ethics and value practice in an organization are complex in nature.

The split ladder of participation: A literature review and dynamic path forward

Participation of people in decision making and tackling complex problems where there is lack of consensus on the science and relevant values continues to be an important research topic. The 2015 Split Ladder of Participation offered a diagnostic and methodological framework cited in 162 papers. This paper addresses the question: What does a literature review of the Split Ladder of Participation reveal about engaging people in policy problems, effecting transformational change, and how can this diagnostic and strategic tool be improved? A systematic literature review revealed papers that disclose transformational change, or triple loop learning requires: strong social science; social and natural interdisciplinary science; and considerations of uncertainty in environmental science together with uncertainty of values and considerations of power. Policy problems with low levels of trust offer opportunities to engage interest and participation in their resolution. Governments over-utilizing methods limiting participation, may lead to lock-in. Focusing on complex, interconnected problems through participation creates an enduring policy and science, interdisciplinary innovation space. Recognizing participation that is plural, amorphous, and fluid draws attention to power, multiple stakeholder framings of complex issues, advances social learning changing values, norms, power, and the very ethics of science (where social and natural/physical scientists acknowledge and share their power with people), and ultimately advances environmental justice.

Disconnected: Unpacking policy framing processes of energy exclusion in Spain

This paper examines the process of policy framing and narrative construction in the context of energy exclusion. Through qualitative analysis of case studies of collective, systematic, and recurrent electricity disconnections at the neighbourhood level in Spain, the study identifies two policy framings, the ‘criminalisation’ and the ‘degradation’ framing, in the process of building the phenomenon of energy exclusion as a policy problem. Highlighting the central role of problem construction in policy development, the research shows how this stage shapes the whole policy trajectory, not only determining the character of the problem but also how to solve it. The research uses textual material collected through in-depth qualitative interviews, news and press, and policy documents to critically analyse the framing process and narrative construction. The results show how conflicting interpretations of a policy situation can lead to different policy messages and the influence of structural elements, such as the dominant electricity model, in reinforcing these interpretations.

Transitioning to New Paradigms for Societally Impactful Research: Recommendations from the TCR Impact Task Force and an Agenda

Marketing scholars increasingly aim to research social and policy problems to create and implement solutions with relevant stakeholders that drive societal impact. In 2022, Transformative Consumer Research and the American Marketing Association sponsored the first TCR-AMA Impact Festival, celebrating societally impactful research in marketing. Results and reflections from the conference point to successes and significant challenges facing scholars who seek to do research with societal impact. A TCR Impact Task Force of leading marketing and consumer scholars was surveyed in a two-stage Delphi study to understand these opportunities and obstacles more deeply and prioritize next steps for the academic community. The results provide an agenda for transformative consumer and marketing research. This agenda provokes fresh thinking for paradigm-level changes by advocating new research validities, methods of stakeholder engagement, initiatives for developing researchers’ capacities, and more substantial institutional support to accelerate the success of impactful academic research.

Компаративный анализ подходов к инновационной политике в сфере здравоохранения в Российской Федерации, Европе и США

Innovations in health policy are critical to ensuring the delivery of high-quality, affordable and effective health services, consistent with the relevance of the research topic. The aim of this article is to determine the approaches to the interpretation of innovation policy in health care, as well as to consider specific problems of innovation policy of health care in the Russian Federation, European countries and the US. The study uses general scientific research methods: comparison, analysis, generalization, specification. Five directions of approaches to the definition of innovation policy in health care organizations are considered: systemic, market, patient-oriented, equity-oriented, as well as technological determinism. Specific problems of innovative healthcare policy in the Russian Federation, European countries and the USA are considered, and possible solutions to them are proposed. It is concluded that, regardless of the level of achievements in the field of innovation in health care, all countries are faced with a list of specific problems that require coordinated action in finding a joint solution for all stakeholders.