A timely antidote to the siren song of populism, Hybrid Public Policy Innovations reminds us of the value of evidence-based policy. Grounded in theory, and illustrated with examples from schools to water, jobs to pensions, the highly qualified contributors to this book make a powerful case for solutions grounded in facts, reason and rigorous analysis.
Professor Andrew Leigh, Member of the Australian Parliament and author of Choosing Openness
Hybrid Public Policy Innovations
Political discourse in much of the world remains mired in simplistic ideological dichotomies of market fundamentalism for efficiency versus substantial socialism for equity. Contemporary public policy design is far more sophisticated. It blends market, government and community tools to simultaneously achieve both equity and efficiency. Unlike in the twentieth century, this design is increasingly grounded in a deep evidence base derived by way of rigorous empirical techniques. A new paradigm is emerging: hybrid policies.
This volume provides a thorough introduction to this technical side of public policy analysis and development. It demonstrates that it is possible to go beyond ideology, and find there some powerful answers to our most pressing problems. An international team of experts, many of whom have experience with the design or implementation of hybrid policies, helps cover the behavioural, institutional and regulatory theories that inform the choice of policy objectives and lead the initial conception of solutions. They explain the reasons why we need evidence-based public policy and the state-of-the-art empirical techniques involved in its development. And they analyse a range of in-depth case studies from industrial relations to health care to illustrate how hybrids can intermingle the strengths of governments, markets and the community to combat the weaknesses of each and arrive at bipartisan outcomes.
Hybrid Public Policy Innovations is geared to scholars and practitioners of public policy administration and management who desire to understand the analytical reasons why policies are designed the way they are, and the purpose of evidence-gathering frameworks attached to policies at implementation.
Mark Fabian is a PhD Candidate in Economics at the Crawford School of Public Policy where he teaches economics for public policy and development economics. He conducts research into welfare and sustainable development at the intersection of philosophy and economics. His most recent published work was on long work hours in Australia, and his current projects concern how we can better integrate philosophical and psychological knowledge about happiness and wellbeing into public policy.
Robert Breunig is former Director of the Crawford School of Public Policy where he teaches empirical public policy and director of the Tax and Transfer Policy Institute. He is a frequent collaborator with the Australian government. He conducts research in three main areas: applied labour economics, policy impact evaluation and behavioural responses to the tax system. In recent work, he has studied the inter-generational transmission of dependence on government assistance; he has examined the relationship between womens labour supply and childcare policy and studied optimal childcare subsidy policies; he has examined the complex relationship between outsourcing and innovation; and he has estimated taxpayer responsiveness in the Australian tax system.
Routledge Studies in Governance and Public Policy
For more information about this series, please visit: www.routledge.com/Routledge-Studies-in-Governance-and-Public-Policy/book-series/GPP
Transformational Public Policy
A New Strategy for Coping with Uncertainty and Risk
Mark Matthews
The Public Legitimacy of Minority Claims
A Central/Eastern European Perspective
Plamen Makariev
Marriage and Values in Public Policy
Conflicts in the UK, the US and Australia
Elizabeth van Acker
Europeanisation, Good Governance and Corruption in the Public Sector
The Case of Turkey
Didem Soyaltin
Frontline Delivery of Welfare-to-Work Policies in Europe
Activating the Unemployed
Edited by Rik van Berkel, Dorte Caswell, Peter Kupka and Flemming Larsen
Decentring Health Policy
Learning from British Experiences in Healthcare Governance
Edited by Mark Bevir and Justin Waring
Decentring Urban Governance
Narratives, Resistance and Contestation
Edited by Mark Bevir, Kim McKee and Peter Matthews
Hybrid Public Policy Innovations
Contemporary Policy Beyond Ideology
Edited by Mark Fabian and Robert Breunig
First published 2018
by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
and by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
2018 Taylor & Francis
The right of Mark Fabian and Robert Breunig to be identified as the authors of the editorial matter, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record for this title has been requested
ISBN: 978-0-8153-7180-9 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-351-24594-4 (ebk)
Typeset in Times New Roman
by Wearset Ltd, Boldon, Tyne and Wear
In the ultimate society, no doubt, every conceivable type of organization machinery will find its place, and the problem takes the form of defining the tasks and sphere of social endeavour for which each type is best adapted.
Frank Knight. 1921. Risk, uncertainty and profit. Boston, MA: Hart, Schaffner & Marx; Houghton Mifflin Co., p. xi
There are no solutions, only trade-offs.
Thomas Sowell. 1995. The vision of the anointed. New York: Basic Books, p. 142
Contributors
Ashlee Betteridge is a Research Officer at the Development Policy Centre of the Crawford School of Public Policy at the Australian National University.
Robert Breunig is Professor of Economics at the Crawford School of Public Policy, the Australian National University. He is a former director of the school and a frequent collaborator with the Australian government.
Elizabeth Bluff is Research Fellow at the Regulatory Network, the Australian National University, and Director of the National Research Centre for OHS regulation.
Bruce Chapman is Professor of Economics at the Research School of Economics at the Australian National University and the intellectual architect of the HECS system.
