In recent years, policy analysts have shown a growing interest in less rationalistic policymaking models. Medical knowledge may be useful to consider in this regard, since it combines practical knowledge with the findings of numerous analytic disciplines, and includes procedures for dealing with...

Analysts are commonly called upon to perform the difficult task of evaluating the effects of specific changes in public policy upon the behavior of individuals, such as a change in the provisions of the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program relating to the benefits of those in...

Over the last two decades policy analysis has flourished, as government has turned increasingly to the services of policy experts. With the refinement of analytic tools vast amounts of data have been made available to decision-makers. These developments have no doubt enhanced the management of...

Some economists misunderstand the way their work is used in policymaking. They claim to be providing dispassionate predictions and parameter estimates to politicians, but often-sometimes unwittingly-the economists' main contribution is to construe a complex issue as a problem (for example, a...

In attempting to understand continuity and change in U.S. foreign policy, analysts have tended to place too much emphasis on the importance of process and too little on that of values, interests, and strategies. In formulating policies toward the conflict in El Salvador, both the Carter and...