Adding Value to Policy Analysis and Advice

High-quality policy analysis and advice is crucial for governments as they wrestle with complex and intractable issues that they can neither manage nor solve on their own. This book explores ways of adding value to policy analysis and advice in Australia and New Zealand, drawing on contributions from individuals and organisations both inside and outside the formal policymaking system.

The authors critique and expand upon the available models, methods and approaches to policy analysis and advising, and propose a systems perspective and a crafting approach to policy design. They examine strategies for improving the quality, capability and performance of the policy advisory system, and the complementary roles of advisers, analysts, managers and others.

Expanding traditional theories of policymaking through comparisons between policies implemented in Australia and New Zealand, this textbook shows how good analysis and advice improves the decisions of public officials. Aimed at managers, administrators, and students who want an integrated perspective on policy analysis and advising, the chapters cover the role of advisors and analysts, within and across jurisdictions, consider the viewpoint of local officials who protect their turf, and suggest new ways for officials to collaborate with outside experts.

Claudia Scott is a professor of public policy at the Australia and New Zealand School of Government at Victoria University–Wellington. She is the author of Function and Finance Forecasting, Local Government Spending, Public and Private Roles in Health Care, and Reform Experiences in Seven OECD Countries. Karen Baehler is a senior lecturer at the Australia and New Zealand School of Government at Victoria University–Wellington. She is the coauthor of Rural Development in the United States.