Policy over- and under-design: an information quality perspective.

Area of Science:

• Public Policy Analysis
• Political Science
• Epidemiology

Background:

• Policy design often struggles to balance technical problem-solving with political realities.
• Suboptimal policy designs, termed over- and under-design, arise from issues like low-quality information.
• Concepts from epidemiology, such as over- and unnecessary adjustment, offer insights into policy design.

Purpose of the Study:

• To clarify the definitions and consequences of policy over- and under-design.
• To explore how political factors influence policy design.
• To propose new definitions for proportionate and disproportionate policy designs based on information quality.

Main Methods:

• Literature review focusing on information quality in policy design.
• Analysis of policy design phenomena using epidemiological concepts (over-adjustment, unnecessary adjustment).
• Examination of policy characteristics affected by over- and under-design.

Main Results:

• Introduced new definitions for proportionate and disproportionate policy designs.
• Identified impacts on economic efficiency, policy effectiveness, and robustness.
• Highlighted consequences for policy over/under-reaction and political ramifications for executives.

Conclusions:

• Deliberate policy over- and under-design can be strategic responses to political challenges.
• These designs can be simultaneously suboptimal for some objectives and proportionate for others.
• A realistic understanding requires acknowledging the interplay between technical and political logics in policy-making.