Entrepreneurship in the Policy Process: Linking Behavior and Context through a Systematic Review of the Policy Entrepreneurship Literature

How do different policy environments influence the choice of policy entrepreneurship (PE) strategies? Using data collected from a systematic review of the PE literature, the authors identify subcomponents of the three streams of the policy process and empirically test the relationship between dominance of each stream and PE strategies. Findings show that when the political and policy streams dominate, policy entrepreneurs focus on policy formation and policy implementation strategies and not on problem identification and policy evaluation strategies. Surprisingly, there is no correlation between dominance of the problem stream and PE strategies. This should lead to the normative claim that PE is not necessarily a positive phenomenon. The article concludes with suggestions for future research.     

What a Difference a Grade Makes: Evidence from New York City's Restaurant Grading Policy

Can governments use grades to induce businesses to improve their compliance with regulations? Does public disclosure of compliance with food safety regulations matter for restaurants? Ultimately, this depends on whether grades matter for the bottom line. Based on 28 months of data on more than 15,000 restaurants in New York City, this article explores the impact of public restaurant grades on economic activity and public resources using rigorous panel data methods, including fixed‐effects models with controls for underlying food safety compliance. Results show that A grades reduce the probability of restaurant closure and increase revenues while increasing sales taxes remitted and decreasing fines relative to B grades. Conversely, C grades increase the probability of restaurant closure and decrease revenues while decreasing sales taxes remitted relative to B grades. These findings suggest that policy makers can incorporate public information into regulations to more strongly incentivize compliance.     

Policy Transfer as a Form of Prospective Policy Evaluation: Challenges and Recommendations

This article focuses on policy transfer as a form of prospective policy analysis, which we define as policy makers' attempts to assess the effect of a policy or program before it is put in place. Despite a burgeoning literature on cross-national policy transfer, there has been little systematic comparison of cases to identify either common problems or potential strategies in the practice of policy transfer. This article sets forth a rational model of policy transfer and examines, in light of that model, case studies of cross-national policy transfer spanning different policy domains. Taking into account the constraints faced by policy makers, we relax standard rational decision-making criteria and make recommendations for improving the process of policy transfer as a form of prospective policy evaluation.     

Adult Education Policy Between Utopia and Fatalism: A Review Essay of Policy-related Literature

For the purpose of this review essay on international policy-related English language literature on adult education from the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, the following models of recent adult education policy options, aiming at social change and redistribution of power under varying conjunctures, have been constructed from the literature available: the revolutionary/transformational model, the humanist model, the rationalist economic model, the post-industrial society model, the new social movement model, and the welfare state model. These models are not exclusive—there may be others—nor are they to be forced into a chronological order. However, they may occur in an interconnected as well as in a dialectic sequence. Choice or application of any or a combination of these models have not brought about redistribution of knowledge or power. Whatever the philosophy, individualist or collective; whatever the approach, selective or campaign; whatever the economy, free market or centrally controlled; whatever the political system, capitalist or socialist; whatever the geographical region, developing or industrialized; indeed, whatever the conditions, the forces resisting an enduring redistributive effect seem to have capacities to reestablish or even reinforce hierarchies challenged by attempts at transformation.     

Non-Governmental Policy Transfer: The Strategies of Independent Policy Institutes

Discussions of policy transfer have primarily focused on official actors and networks. The non-governmental mode of policy transfer via foundations, think tanks and non-governmental organizations is a relatively neglected dimension. Accordingly, this paper addresses the role of think tanks in promoting the spread of policy ideas about privatization. The importance of think tanks to policy transfer is their ability to diffuse ideas by (1) acting as a clearing-house for information; (2) their involvement in the advocacy of ideas; (3) their involvement in domestic and transnational policy networks; and (4) their intellectual and scholarly base providing expertise on specialized policy issues. Concepts from comparative public policy and international relations such as "social learning" and "epistemic communities" are used to outline the way think tanks advocate innovative policy ideas. However, not only have think tanks been effective in promoting the transfer of policy ideas, the international spread of think tanks also exhibits organizationaltransfer.     

Learning from Abroad: The Role of Policy Transfer in Contemporary Policy-Making

In recent years there has been a growing body of literature within political science and international studies that directly and indirectly uses, discusses and analyzes the processes involved in lesson-drawing, policy convergence, policy diffusion and policy transfer. While the terminology and focus often vary, all of these studies are concerned with a similar process in which knowledge about policies, administrative arrangements, institutions and ideas in one political setting (past or present) is used in the development of policies, administrative arrangements, institutions and ideas in another political setting.
Given that this is a growing phenomenon, it is something that anyone studying public policy needs to consider. As such, this article is divided into four major sections. The first section briefly considers the extent of, and reasons for, the growth of policy transfer. The second section then outlines a framework for the analysis of transfer. From here a third section presents a continuum for distinguishing between different types of policy transfer. Finally, the last section addresses the relationship between policy transfer and policy "failure."     

Cooption and Power: Who Gets What From Formal Incorporation

This paper examines the central generalizable factors which influence the flow of power within formal or 'institutional' cooptive arrangements. It examines the key resources of four different types of societal group and explores the utility of these resources in the light of an account of basic government needs. In the light of this, it explores a range of group-government dependencies. Its aim is to set out why some groups can get more and others less from formal government cooption, other things being equal. This enables us to isolate factors of central importance to various cooptive arrangements in quite different contexts.     

Policy Transfer in the European Union: Institutional Isomorphism as a Source of Legitimacy

This article examines public policy in the European Union (EU) by drawing upon the framework of policy transfer, which has been recently refined by comparativists, and the concept of isomorphism developed within organizational theory. Three case studies—namely, the single currency, tax policy and media ownership policy—are discussed and compared with the aim of assessing the potential of isomorphism for the analysis of policy dif-fusion. The author argues that European institutions, which have a serious limitation in terms of legitimacy, stimulate policy transfer by catalyzing isomorphic processes. Policy transfer, however, is constrained when there are no national cases to be imitated. Yet European institutions, most notably the European Commission, can overcome the problem by "inseminating" solutions into national political systems.     

Learning from Others: What South Korean Technology Policy Can Teach the U.S.

I have recently traveled to South Korea, where Seoul National University hosted the XXII World Congress of Philosophy, the first time the congress has been hosted in Asia. I was astonished by the pervasive use of many of the latest technological advancements. Among the most impressive changes were environmental. The methods employed in hotels and at the University for minimizing unnecessary consumption of electricity were exemplary. Given the great need America has now for developing its economy, and preferably in a way that does not easily lend itself to outsourcing, South Korea can serve as a model for change implemented through the development and manufacturing of advanced technological tools including high‐speed internet access, which will be the focus of the present paper. Some changes have begun already in some arenas of industry and responsiveness to environmental forces, such as in Toyota's decision to move from making SUV's in its new factory coming to Tupelo, Mississippi, to making only the Prius. But Americans have let the governmental incentives for a number of environmentally preferable products run out, and have not lead the way in the propagation of new renewable energy source technologies. Also, America's common approach to the propagation of technological and business development with the use of tax‐incentives is fundamentally different far less forceful than the South Korean approach I will discuss.     

Policy Transfer and Policy Learning: A Study of the 1991 NewZealand Health Services Taskforce

Research into policy transfer and lesson drawing has been criticized asfew authors have convincingly shown how cross-national policy learning actually influences policy formation in a particular jurisdiction. This article addresses this gap by presenting a study of the development of the 1991 health policy in New Zealand. By studying the process of policy development, rather than just a policy document, it was possible to disaggregate different aspects of the policy and to identify sources and influences. This article finds that the 'conspiracy' model of policy formation does not fit this case as it presents an overly simplistic view, which allows little space for policy learning. This case illustrates the subtle and multifaceted influence of different jurisdictions, different institutions, and different individuals on a given policy.     

What Local Policy Makers Should Know about Urban Road Charging: Lessons from Worldwide Experience

Congestion costs are emerging as one of the most important challenges faced by metropolitan planners and transport authorities in developed economies. In the United States, these costs were as high as $78 billion in 2005 and are growing as a result of rapid increases in travel delays. In order to solve the current and severe levels of congestion, the U.S. Department of Transportation has recently started a program to initiate congestion pricing in five metropolitan areas. In this context, it is important to identify factors that influence successful implementation, as well as the problems or difficulties associated with charging projects. The authors review, synthesize, and analyze worldwide experience with urban road charging in order to extract lessons for policy makers who are considering the implementation of congestion pricing projects and for those who are interested in the introduction of traffic management tools to regulate entrance to city centers.     

On Political Brands: A Systematic Review of the Literature

The usage of the word brand crops up more frequently in politics. Specifically, in the study of political marketing, a burgeoning set of research has encircled various cases and conceptions. However, the brand concept seeks to harbor a variety of political events, just like a sponge soaking up different kinds of meaning in different kinds of surroundings. This tendency makes it hard to accumulate knowledge because demarcations between various brand perspectives in many cases are implicit, which can impede the clarity and precision in our studies. Against this backdrop, we identify a gap in the political brand literature: a study conducting an overall conceptual inquiry. As such, it is first argued that we need a thorough analysis of the foundation of the political brand concept to uncover the presuppositions underlying the different usages of the concept. Second, we carry out a systematic review of the brand literature on voters and parties. Third, on this ground, we propose a minimal definition and six subclassifications to the political brand concept. Finally, we illustrate the applicability of this conceptual groundwork in order to advance cumulative research in the field.     

浅论黎族民间童话的伦理学意义

本文依据黎族民间童话中对善恶问题的描述，分别从自然环境、家庭生活、社会道德等几个方面分析了黎族民间文化的伦理观念，从而透析出黎族民间童话的伦理学意义。