Public Policy Analysis

Maastricht Summer School
Netherlands, Maastricht

Maastricht Summer School Netherlands, Bonnefantenstraat 2, 6211 KL Maastricht, The Netherlands

Study location	Netherlands, Maastricht
Type	Summer Courses, Full-time
Nominal duration	1 week (2 ECTS)
Study language	English
Course code	MSS2026

Tuition fee	€299 one-time

Entry qualification	Enrolled as an undergraduate student or holder of an undergraduate diploma, including those pursuing advanced studies or professional careers. Taking the public policy processes course before this class is recommended: maastricht.dreamapply.com/courses/course/291-public-policy-processes The entry qualification documents are accepted in the following languages: English. Often you can get a suitable transcript from your school. If this is not the case, you will need official translations along with verified copies of the original.

Entry qualification

Enrolled as an undergraduate student or holder of an undergraduate diploma, including those pursuing advanced studies or professional careers.

Taking the public policy processes course before this class is recommended:
maastricht.dreamapply.com/courses/course/291-public-policy-processes

The entry qualification documents are accepted in the following languages: English.

Often you can get a suitable transcript from your school. If this is not the case, you will need official translations along with verified copies of the original.

Language requirements	English The language of the course is English, so we expect a fluent level and the ability to follow and participate in class.

Language requirements

English

The language of the course is English, so we expect a fluent level and the ability to follow and participate in class.

More information	maastrichtsummerschool.nl

Course Description
There is growing recognition that relevant, evidence-based policy making is key to achieving significant and sustainable change and fulfilment of the Sustainable Development Goals. In this course, you will be introduced to the fundamentals of public policy analysis tools used commonly throughout the world. Monitoring and evaluation of policies and projects is often required by international organizations, NGOs, and national governments to produce meaningful, rigorous, evidence-based recommendations based on the outcomes of existing programmes, and serves as an essential part of accountability to donors and affected populations. It is therefore imperative for anyone interested in the realm of public policy to have a grasp of what it means to conduct rigorous evaluations.
The course is divided into four units. The first unit is an introduction to public policy analysis. In the second unit students are introduced in greater detail to the monitoring process and relevant tools. Units three and four are dedicated to the description of impact evaluation methods and their practical application in real-world settings.

Goals
By the end of the course students should be able to:
• Understand the basis of public policy analysis and evidence-based public policy.
• Understand the distinction between monitoring and evaluation.
• Understand the different types of data used in policy evaluation and their sources.
• Understand the different types of monitoring and its evolution through time.
• Be able to critically assess when monitoring is preferable to impact evaluation.
• Understand the different analytical methods used to perform impact evaluation.
• Grasp the statistics behind experimental and quasi-experimental techniques.
• Overall, the student should be able to critically reflect on the literature provided and be able to distil this knowledge into their own country’s context.

Recommended Literature
• Mark Bovens, Paul ‘t Hart, Sanneke Kuipers (2009), “The Politics of Policy Evaluation” in Robert E. Goodin, Michael Moran, and Martin Rein (eds), The Oxford Handbook of Public Policy, Oxford University Press, 319-335. Available at:https://www.researchgate.net/publication/281198621_The_Politics_of_Policy_Evaluation
• Mariana Wongtschowski, Lisanne Oonk and Remco Mur(2016), Monitoring and evaluation for accountability and learning, KIT Working Paper Series. Available at: www.kit.nl/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Monitoring-and-evaluation-for-accountability-and-learning.pdf
• Christopher Scott (2005), Measuring Up to the Measurement Problem – The role of statistics in evidence-based policy-making, Paris 21. Pages 1-22. Available at: paris21.org/sites/default/files/1509.pdf
• Example of a Census: www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/decennial/2020/technical-documentation/questionnaires-and-instructions/questionnaires/2020-informational-questionnaire.pdf
• Kingdon, J. (1984). Agendas, alternatives, and public policies. Longman Classics in Political Science, Chapter 3. File available on Canvas.
• Paul Gertler, Sebastian Martinez, Patrick Premand, Laura B Rawlings & Christel M JVermeersch (2016), Impact Evaluation in Practice – Second Edition, Inter-American Development Bank and World Bank, Chapter 1, Chapter 3, 47-53, Chapter 6, 113-126, Chapter 7, 130-134 and 140-141, Chapter 14, Chapter 15. Available at:https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/bitstream/handle/10986/25030/9781464807794.pdf
• DG for External Policies – Policy Department (2016),Monitoring the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals -the role of the data revolution, European Parliament. Available at:http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/STUD/2016/578020/EXPO_STU(2016)578020_EN.pdf
• Martin Ravallion (2001), The mystery of the vanishing benefits: An introduction to impact evaluation, The World Bank Economic Review, 15(1), 115-140. Available at:https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/bitstream/handle/10986/17218/773500JRN02001000Vanishing0Benefits.pdf?sequence=1
• WFP (2016), Food Assistance to Refugees – Standard Project Report 2016. Available at:https://docs.wfp.org/api/documents/e36dbd6a49c94bef8406c8cec42918d1/download/
• Eleanor Aigne Roy (2016), New Zealand experts warn Australia data-driven welfare ‘abuses and brutalises’, The Guardian. Available at:https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/jul/28/new-zealand-experts-warn-australia-data-driven-welfare-abuses-and-brutalises
• Giovanna Prennushi, Gloria Rubio & Kalanidhi Subbarao (2002),“Monitoring and evaluation” in Jeni Klugman (ed), A Sourcebook for Poverty Reduction Strategies, World Bank, Chapter 3, pp. 107-117. Available at:http://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/156931468138883186/pdf/2980000182131497813.pdf
• Mark Tomlinson, Wesley Solomon, Yages Singh,Tanya Doherty, Mickey Chopra, Petrida Ijumba, Alexander C Tsai & Debra Jackson (2009), The use of mobile phones as a data collection tool: areport from a household survey in South Africa, BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making, 9(1), 51. Available at:https://bmcmedinformdecismak.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1472-6947-9-51
• Sabine Alkire & Emma Samman (2014), Mobilising thehousehold data required to progress toward the SDGs, OPHI, Working Paper 72. The entire paper. Available at: bit.ly/3skztQv
• Laura Rawlings(2013), Who’s Afraid of Administrative Data? Why administrative data can be faster, cheaper and sometimes better, World Bank Blogs. Available at:https://blogs.worldbank.org/impactevaluations/whos-afraid-administrative-data-why-administrative-data-can-be-faster-cheaper-and-sometimes-better
• Alexandria Polik (2020), Big Brother Turns Its Eye on Refugees, Foreign Policy. Available at: foreignpolicy.com/2020/09/02/big-brother-turns-its-eye-on-refugees/
• Carly Nyst, Zara Rahman & Paola Verhaert (2018), Biometrics in the Humanitarian Sector, Oxfam – The Engine Room. Available at: policy-practice.oxfam.org.uk/publications/biometrics-in-the-humanitarian-sector-620454
• The New Humanitarian (2019), Head to Head: Biometrics and Aid. Available at: www.thenewhumanitarian.org/opinion/2019/07/17/head-head-biometrics-and-aid
• Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, ETHZ & NADEL Center (2017), What are Impact Evaluations? Available at: ethz.ch/content/dam/ethz/special-interest/gess/development-economics-dam/documents/Media/EvalBrief%204%20Research%20Evidence%20and%20Impact%20Evaluation.pdf
• Daniel F Chambliss & Russell K Schutt (2018), “Causation and Experimental Design” in Daniel F Chambliss & Russell K Schutt, Making Sense ofthe Social World: 6th edition, SAGE publishing, Chapter 5, 119-131. Available at: www.sagepub.com/sites/default/files/upm-binaries/23639_Chapter_5___Causation_and_Experimental_Design.pdf
• Abhijit Banerjee, Sharon Barnhardt & Esther Duflo (2017), Can Iron-FortifiedSalt Control Anemia? Evidence from Two Experiments in Rural Bihar, Journal of Development Economics. Available at:https://economics.mit.edu/sites/default/files/publications/0_main_article_fortfoods.pdf
• Donald B Rubin (1974), Estimating causal effects of treatments in randomised and nonrandomised studies, Journal of Educational Psychology 66(5), 688-701. Available at: psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?doi=10.1037%2Fh0037350