Measuring design diversity: A new application of Ostrom's rule types

Abstract

We draw on the Institutional Grammar Tool's rule types to empirically analyze the design of four major procedural regulatory instruments in the 27 member states of the European Union and the UK. They are: consultation, regulatory impact assessment, freedom of information, and the Ombudsman. By adopting the Institutional Grammar Tool as conceptual lens we end up with a single measurement template applicable to a variety of action situations. We derive measures that are conceptually robust and suitable for comparative analysis. With original data gathered on the official legal base in the 28 cases, we carry out principal components analysis. We identify design patterns across countries and instruments; the specialization of each instrument in terms of rule type; and the components that best explain cross‐country variation. In the conclusions we argue that to reframe the design features of the four instruments in conceptual, theoretical categories is not simply a taxonomical exercise but it extends to the territory of comparative policy analysis, practice and reform.

Limited Demand or Unreliable Supply? A Bibliometric Review and Computational Text Analysis of Research on Energy Policy in India

“…Computational text analysis is an emerging approach that allows the user to interact with unstructured text data through diverse techniques, such as frequency analysis, co-occurrence analysis, sentiment analysis, topic modelling, and those in natural language processing [203][204][205][206][207][208]. This approach has been used in research on public policy, for example, to study issue framing and agenda setting [209,210], map the relationship between policy discourse and public opinion [211], examine priorities of public agencies [212], "measure" policy design [213,214], and examine program evaluations [215]. In addition, it has been employed in research on energy and environment policy, illustratively, to understand stakeholder opinions regarding air pollution in Hong Kong [216], analyze 70 years of German parliamentary debate on coal [217], and identify various dimensions of electric vehicles' adoption in the United States using Facebook posts [218].…”

The institutional grammar in policy process research

“…As previously noted, one development was the augmentation of the original IG by an additional syntactic component [i.e., the Object as introduced by Siddiki et al (2011)]. Frantz et al (2013) also proposed a modification to the original syntax with the introduction of the Nested ADICO concept. This concept recasts the Or else as a kind of institutional statement in its own right that conveys sanctioning actions, rather than as a syntactic component.…”

Regulatory policy 2.0

“…The rejection of statement (52) on bureaucratic turf wars is sharp. RIA has not withered away, diluted in too many tests that make a final assessment impossible (12). Gender, SMEs, environmental assessments are complementary and rather even improvements of the assessment process.…”

“…If the tools are implemented properly, moreover, they can deliver on policy outcomes (34). They do need more sophistication -adding tests on gender, environment, business, SMEs is necessary (12), while Cost Benefit Analysis is not outdated and will further be instrumental in the future (54). Bureaucracy is perfectly equipped to realise the potential of the tools: Better Regulation is not "the continuation of bureaucratic wars by other means" (52, same score as for type 1).…”

“…Statement (6) tells us that Better Regulation is not too complexhence it can be understood by and be of support to the regulators. The different tests on business, gender, the environment and SMEs are not a waste of time -they are useful to determine the best policy option (12). Over the years, Better Regulation has evolved, and it is not true that it worked better "when it was just a few key principles" (40).…”