Policy capacities and effective policy design: a review

Effectiveness has been understood at three levels of analysis in the scholarly study of policydesign. The first is at the systemic level indicating what entails effective formulation environmentsor spaces making them conducive to successful design. The second reflects moreprogram level concerns, surrounding how policy tool portfolios or mixes can be effectivelyconstructed to address complex policy objectives. The third is a more specific instrumentlevel, focusing on what accounts for and constitutes the effectiveness of particular typesof policy tools. Undergirding these three levels of analysis are comparative research concernsthat concentrate on the capacities of government and political actors to devise andimplement effective designs. This paper presents a systematic review of a largely scatteredyet quickly burgeoning body of knowledge in the policy sciences, which broadly askswhat capacities engender effectiveness at the multiple levels of policy design? The findingsbring to light lessons about design effectiveness at the level of formulation spaces,policy mixes and policy programs. Further, this review points to a future research agendafor design studies that is sensitive to the relative orders of policy capacity