Business Finance - Economics final assignment

ECP 3930: Policy Brief Guidelines Dr. Wright (Spring 2022)

1 The Policy Proposal In drafting your proposal, you should consider the following points:

1. The proposal should be well reasoned, logically structured, convincing, and based on empirical evidence.

2. Clearly describe the issue you’re addressing and briefly discuss why it’s an important policy question.

3. Make sure your policy recommendation and details are clear.

4. In creating your program, you should think deeply about the following questions:

(a) What is the scope of the problem?

(b) Do we need a policy intervention to solve this problem? Why is your program the best solution? How will

it solve the problem defined?

(c) What is the proposed intervention?

(d) Who will be eligible for this intervention/program? How many people might be affected/treated by your

program.

(e) Are there similar policies/programs anywhere in the country?

(f) What is the expected impact of the program on the participant’s outcomes?

(g) What does empirical evidence say about similar programs?

(h) How will the program be funded? What will it cost?

(i) What is the cost & benefit of the program? Can you calculate the potential return on investment?

(j) What descriptive data, statistics or graph can I use to convince readers? Getting in touch with local gov-

ernment to ask questions is a great idea and would be looked favorably upon.

5. Pay keen attention to the design details and eligibility criteria. Are there potential for unintended consequences?

What provisions are being put in place to minimize these?

6. Look to other programs and previous research on the topic -

• Have other cities/counties/states tried this before?

• Are there any good evaluations of these programs?

• Lean as heavily as you can on others’ evaluations.

7. Explain why you chose the policy you did -

• If your program has no precedent, find research on programs that have similar a eligibility criteria or give

similar benefits.

• If your program is based on “best practices’, find what other cities are doing and choose the model that

has been most successful, or the model that will likely be most successful if implemented in your context.

Keep in mind that a great program in Maine might not be as good of a fit for Atlanta as a really good

program that worked in Charlotte.

• When weighing the evidence on previous programs, keep in mind that you should rely much more heavily

on evidence from rigorous evaluations (RCT, RD, DID, IV) than you should on observational studies.

8. If you are choosing between competing policies, you should think about the following -

• What are the pro’s and con’s of both sides.

1

• Why do the pro’s of your choice outweigh the con’s of the opposing choice(s)?

• Which has the highest net return?

1.1 Presentation types Different types of questions will require different presentations and solutions. For example:

1. You’re asked to make a policy recommendation on a common problem that has been addressed and evaluated in

other locations:

• You should then look at evaluations of these programs and use these to make a recommendations.

• “Best practices” will be a big part of your evaluation.

2. You’re asked to make a policy recommendation on a unique or new problem that has not been addressed and

evaluated in other locations:

• What does economic thinking suggest we should do? Think about people’s behavioral responses. What

goal are you trying to achieve.

• Weighing the pro’s and con’s will be a big part of your proposal.

3. You’re asked to choose between two choices:

• Think about the cost-benefit analysis. Why might one be better than the other.

1.2 Researching your topic If you have a “best practices” type topic,

• You’ll want to look to think tanks and evaluation centers like those listed below for formal evaluations.

• You should also look to the cities themselves to see what programs they’ve enacted.

• If there are more than you can present in your allotted time, just talk about the most relevant ones.

If you have an economic problem to solve, look to more formal research from economic journals (the think tanks will

have some research too).

• You’ll want to look at what conditions might make these programs work.

• Think clearly about mechanisms and incentives when you make your recommendation.

• If there aren’t many good program evaluations on the topic, say so, and make your argument based on economic

thinking.

2 Rules Policy Brief Formatting:

1. This is due by April 16th.

2. The policy brief should be 5-10 pages. This does not include the cover page, abstract, table of contents, refer-

ences, and appendix. It should be written with 1.5 spacing, Times New Roman, & in font size 12.

3. All the research you reference should be cited properly and a reference list should be provided in APA format

at the end.

Presentation:

2

1. You have 5-10 minutes to make your presentation. Your slides should be sent to me prior to your final on April

26-28th. This is the only submission you need to make.

Grading:

1. Proposal (22%)

2. Presentation & Critique (8%)

3 Some resource ideas Think tanks and research organizations:

Brookings

MDRC

Mathematica

Abt

Urban Institute

Pew research center

Rand

American Enterprise Institute

Hoover Institution

Economic Policy Institute

Center for American Progress

World Bank

Spotlight on Poverty

Institute for Research on Poverty

A small selection of academic journals:

Journal of Policy Analysis and Management

Journal of Human Resources

Journal of Labor Economics

Journal of Urban Economics

Economics of Education Review

Journal of Education Finance and Policy

Education Next

National Bureau of Economic Research

3