Introductions

Review syllabus & assignments

Assign teams & cases

Policy analysis - Art or science?

Development of the field

Working with clients and the public

Ethical issues and value conflicts

Public policy process

Role of policy analysts in the policy process

Steps in the policy analysis process

Problem definition

Agenda setting and policy making

Problem framing & dispute resolution

What govt does & why it does it?

Public goods vs. private goods

Market failures

Externalities

Monopolies

Information asymmetries

Finding alternatives

Lesson drawing & best practices research

Diffusion of innovations

Policy instruments

Finding & analyzing data

Goals, alternatives, outcomes matrices

Sensitivity analysis

Forecasting

Trend extrapolation

Decision trees

B-C Analysis vs. cost effectiveness analysis

Opportunity costs

Tangible vs. intangible costs Discount rates & time

Valuing inputs & outcomes

Present vs. future value