Carrots, Sticks and Sermons

The literature on policy strategies, instruments, and styles is impressive. Still, a complex variety of theoretical and conceptual approaches and analytical tools hamper a good overview. Carrots, Sticks, and Sermons proposes such a framework for the field and clearly shows how public policy instruments are classified, packaged, and chosen, while highlighting the role evaluation plays in the instruments-choice process. Carrots, Sticks, and Sermons offers a comprehensive analysis of categories and typologies of policy instruments. It classifies sticks, carrots, and sermons - or, more specifically, regulation, economic means, and information. Readers are offered a comparative perspective of evaluation practice in foreign contexts. Special attention is paid to the examples of Sweden, the Netherlands, Belgium, England, Canada, the United States, and the Republic of Korea. As such, this volume crosses language barriers that stand in the way of dispersing research results among the international community of theoreticians and practitioners. As nations become increasingly interdependent, problems of implementation and evaluation of policy choices will become issues of increasing gravity. Carrots, Sticks, and Sermons provides insights into the traditional and current practice of policy and program evaluation in various contexts. The book's theory of comparative public policy will produce understanding and guidance in designing better policies. It will be of wide interest to those in the fields of public policy, particularly policy design, policy implementation, policy evaluation, comparative politics, and economics.

Introduction: Policy Instrument Choice and Evaluation, Part 1: Typology of Instruments, 1. Policy Instruments: Typologies and Theories, 2. The Stick: Regulation as a Tool of Government, 3. The Carrot: Subsidies as a Tool of Government - Theory and Practice, 4. The Sermon: Information Programs in the Public Policy Process--Choice, Effects, and Evaluation, 5. The Give-and-Take Packaging of Policy Instruments: Optimizing Legitimacy and Effectiveness, Part II: Choice and Context, 6. Choosing the Right Policy Instrument at the Right Time: The Contextual Challenges of Selection and Implementation, 7. Contracting-Out and Program Evaluation: A Case Study, 8. Government-Sponsored Enterprises as a Credit Allocation Tool in the United States, 9. The Invisible Problem and How to Deal with It: National Policy Styles in Radiation Protection Policy in The Netherlands, England, and Belgium, 10. The Management and Privatization of Korea's Public Enterprises, 11. Conclusions: Policy Instruments Types, Packages, Choices, and Evaluation, Contributors, Index