“Public policy and policy analysis is in some ways the odd-one-out in this list. The academic discipline of policy analysis focuses on quantitative (econometric) analysis of the impact of policies.”
This hasn’t been my experience. Academically, I’ve drawn from a much wider variety of methods. At work, we use ex ante cost benefit analysis more than econometrics. (Not to say I don’t see a lot of econometrics, just that I’ve experienced a lot more diversity in this field than you’ve described!)
I definitely see a wide variety of techniques used in applied public policy, as I said in the next paragraph. The work I did at RAND was very interdisciplinary, and drew on a wide variety of academic disciplines—but it was also decision support and applied policy analysis, not academic public policy.
And I was probably not generous enough about what types of methods are used in academic public policy—but my view is colored by the fact that the scope in many academic departments seems almost shockingly narrow compared to what I was used to, or even what seems reasonable. The academic side, meaning people I see going for tenure in public policy departments, seems to focus pretty narrowly on econometric methods for estimating impact of interventions. They also do ex-post cost benefit analyses, but those use econometric estimates of impact to estimate the benefits. And when academic ex-ante analysis is done, it’s usually part of a study using econometric or RCT estimates to project the impact.
“Public policy and policy analysis is in some ways the odd-one-out in this list. The academic discipline of policy analysis focuses on quantitative (econometric) analysis of the impact of policies.”
This hasn’t been my experience. Academically, I’ve drawn from a much wider variety of methods. At work, we use ex ante cost benefit analysis more than econometrics. (Not to say I don’t see a lot of econometrics, just that I’ve experienced a lot more diversity in this field than you’ve described!)
I definitely see a wide variety of techniques used in applied public policy, as I said in the next paragraph. The work I did at RAND was very interdisciplinary, and drew on a wide variety of academic disciplines—but it was also decision support and applied policy analysis, not academic public policy.
And I was probably not generous enough about what types of methods are used in academic public policy—but my view is colored by the fact that the scope in many academic departments seems almost shockingly narrow compared to what I was used to, or even what seems reasonable. The academic side, meaning people I see going for tenure in public policy departments, seems to focus pretty narrowly on econometric methods for estimating impact of interventions. They also do ex-post cost benefit analyses, but those use econometric estimates of impact to estimate the benefits. And when academic ex-ante analysis is done, it’s usually part of a study using econometric or RCT estimates to project the impact.