The Rush To Policy

Rush to Policy explores the appropriate role of technical analysis in policy formation. The authors ask when and how the use of sophisticated analytic techniques in decision making benefits the nation. They argue that these techniques are too often used in situations where they may not be needed or understood by the decision maker; where they may not be able to answer the questions raised but are nonetheless required by the law. House and Shull provide an excellent empirical base for describing the impact of politics on policies, policy analysis, and policy analysts. They examine cost benefit analysis, risk analysis, and decision analysis, and assess their ability to substitute for the current decision making process in the public sector. They examine the political basis of public sector decision making, how individuals and organizations make decisions, and the ways decisions are made in the federal sector. Also they discuss the mandate to use these methods in the policy formulation process. The book is written by two practicing federal policy analysts who, in a decade of service as policy researchers, developed sophisticated quantitative analytic and decision-making techniques. They then spent several years trying to use them in the real world. Successes and failures are described in illuminating detail, providing insight not commonly found in such critiques. The authors delineate the interaction of politics and technical issues. Their book describes policy analysis as it is, not how it ought to be.

Rush to Policy explores the appropriate role of technical analysis in policy formulation. The authors ask when and how the use of sophisticated analytic techniques in decision-making benefits the nation. They argues that these techniques are too often used in situations where they may not be needed or understood by the decision maker, where they may not be to answer the questions raised but are nonetheless required by law. House and Shull provide an excellent empirical base for describing the impact of politics on policies, policy analysis, and policy analysts. They examine cost-benefit analysis, risk analysis, and decision analysis and assess their ability to substitute for the current decision-making process in the public sector. They examine the political basis of public sector decision-making, how individuals and organizations make decisions, and the ways decisions are made in the federal sector. Also, they discuss the mandate to use these methods in the policy formulation process. The book is written by two practicing federal policy analysts who, in a decade of service as policy researchers, developed sophisticated quantitative analytic and decision-making techniques. They then spent several years trying to use them in the real world. Success and failures are described in illuminating detail, providing insight not commonly found in such critiques. The authors delineate the interaction of politics and technical issues. Their book describes policy analysis as it is, not how it ought to be. Peter W. House is the director of policy research and analysis at the National Science Foundation. He is the author of ten books on multidisciplinary science and technology policy research and analyses in government, private, and university sectors, including The Art of Public Policy Analysis and with Roger D. Shull, Regulatory Reform: Politics and the Environment and Regulations and Science: Management of Research on Demand. Roger D. Shull is a senior analyst at the Division of Policy Research and Analysis, National Science Foundation.

This groundbreaking study systematically treats recent policymaking trends, starting with a reconsideration of salient theoretical issues of policymaking and its study and culminating with a survey of current policy-related predicaments in various countries. Dror proposes that the task for social science research is to uncover underlying causes of policymaking inadequacies. Standard research methods, Dror states, have been unable to uncover the realities of important decisions made inside governments. In order to gain an understanding of pressing predicaments, he believes that policymakers need to examine the foundations of contemporary practices of present assumptions, and that they need a multiplicity of approaches to policymaking.After prescribing a set of requirements that policymaking must satisfy in order to adequately respond to challenges, Dror posits several improvements needed in education and in policy decision making. The book concludes with an extensive bibliography, including numerous important German works not found in other English-language studies. This book supplements the earlier basic theory and models propounded in Dror's Public Policymaking Reexamined by dealing with current trends. As a guide to public policy literature and related works, it will be invaluable to students and practitioners.

"Rush to Policy explores the appropriate role of technical analysis in policy formation. The authors ask when and how the use of sophisticated analytic techniques in decision making benefits the nation. They argue that these techniques are too often used in situations where they may not be needed or understood by the decision maker; where they may not be able to answer the questions raised but are nonetheless required by the law. House and Shull provide an excellent empirical base for describing the impact of politics on policies, policy analysis, and policy analysts. They examine cost benefit analysis, risk analysis, and decision analysis, and assess their ability to substitute for the current decision making process in the public sector. They examine the political basis of public sector decision making, how individuals and organizations make decisions, and the ways decisions are made in the federal sector. Also they discuss the mandate to use these methods in the policy formulation process. The book is written by two practicing federal policy analysts who, in a decade of service as policy researchers, developed sophisticated quantitative analytic and decision-making techniques. They then spent several years trying to use them in the real world. Successes and failures are described in illuminating detail, providing insight not commonly found in such critiques. The authors delineate the interaction of politics and technical issues. Their book describes policy analysis as it is, not how it ought to be."--Provided by publisher.

Tibor R. Machan, one of the most prolific and wide ranging philosophers of our time, has been known internationally for decades through his public speaking, opinion columns, and of course his scholarly writing. This collection of essays seeks to explore Machan's philosophical ideas by considering some of the basic issues with which he has been concerned throughout his long and highly productive career. The essays range from those concerned with the nature of reality and knowledge to those dealing with the nature of the political/legal order. Topics such as the character of human nature, free choice and responsibility, the justification of individual rights, and the place of justice in the contemporary welfare state--among other basic issues--are discussed in these essays. Because Machan himself dealt with questions of central importance, the essays should appeal to a wide range of interests and disciplines in philosophy and related fields. But the essays are also written by people accomplished in their own right and thus seek not only to comment on Machan, but to make their own contribution to enduring philosophical issues. The volume should be of value to both students and faculty alike.

Discusses the South Korea's highly centralized system of state planning showing that economic success had less to do with free market or free trade policies than with thorough state economic control. Analyzes the repressive and unbalanced nature of South Korea's growth process.

“A fun mixture of magic, sensuality, and iconic pin-up girl style. The romance in New Orleans Rush will leave you smiling and filled with optimism.” ~ Helen Hoang, author of The Kiss Quotient Falling for your surly boss is a rotten idea. Letting him saw you in half is even worse... Beatrice Baker may be a struggling artist, but she believes all hardships have silver linings...until she follows her boyfriend to New Orleans and finds him with another woman. Instead of turning those lemons into lemonade, she drinks lemon drop martinis and keys the wrong man’s car. Now she works for Huxley Marlow of the Marvelous Marlow Boys, getting shoved in boxes as an on-stage magician’s assistant. A cool job for some, but Bea’s been coerced into the role to cover her debt. She also maybe fantasizes about her boss’s adept hands and what else they can do. She absolutely will not fall for him, or kiss him senseless. Until she does. The scarred, enigmatic Huxley has unwittingly become her muse, unlocking her artistic dry spell, but his vague nightly activities are highly suspect. The last time Beatrice trusted a man, her bank account got drained and she almost got arrested. Surely this can’t end that badly...right?