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The effect of program structure on policy implementation: A policy design analysis of economic development
Abstract
This study advances implementation theory by examining the relationship between the structure of public policy and implementation patterns. Fundamental changes in the methods of delivering public services, specifically, the increase in privatized and decentralized approaches, have likely affected the nature and process of public policy development. Scholars of the policy process have failed to incorporate new implementation methods in the explanatory models. The purpose of this dissertation was to find how the structural characteristics of program delivery mechanisms affect specific patterns of policy implementation, and to propose modifications to the policy process models based on the findings. Policy design methodology, one of the developing fields of public policy research, was used to test the effect of privatization and decentralization on implementation. It was hypothesized that lower levels of direct government action in the structure of public programs, reflecting privatization and decentralization, would result in an increase in the amount of private business involvement in public policy implementation. State economic development policy, an increasingly important domestic policy area, was the subject of research. The data obtained from state program materials and a survey of administrators show that the amount of direct government action in the structure of public programs does affect the level of business involvement in implementation. However, the resulting patterns are not characterized by less direct government and more business, but rather the appearance of a range of specific types of government and business partnerships in the implementation of state enterprise zones, a widely used economic development program designed to redevelop distressed areas through targeted economic development initiatives. Research findings also show that contrary to expectations southern states and economically distressed states do not differ in terms of economic development program implementation. Finally, this dissertation shows that policy design methodology can be used in an empirically-based study of public policy.
Subject Area
Political science|Public administration
Recommended Citation
Blair, Robert F, "The effect of program structure on policy implementation: A policy design analysis of economic development" (1996). ETD collection for University of Nebraska-Lincoln. AAI9703773.
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dissertations/AAI9703773