Policy engineering refers to comprehensiveness (multiple policies on a single
issue or one policy addressing multiple issues) and quantitative approaches; as
society becomes more complex, it is becoming essential to understand the quantitative cost-effectiveness of those policies. The discipline is also characterized by
optimality (maximizing social utility and minimizing cost (risk)) and connectivity
between theory and practice. In other words, it is a discipline that integrates various
approaches to seek optimal solutions (policies) to solve complex social problems in
the most appropriate way.
Policy engineering is not a discipline for the sake of discipline, it is a practice.
Further, it is the application, implementation, and realization of discipline in the real
world, with an aim to improve the real world. For example, the IPCC, in its series of
assessment reports, cited a number of analyses of integrated assessment models,
which combine natural and social scientific knowledge to test the effectiveness of
socioeconomic policies. Although the IPCC assessment reports did not discuss the
nature of policy-making, they did provide a number of examples of policy engineering in the real-world context. Future policy recommendations must be strategic,
systematic, quantitative, and concrete, based on quantitative evaluation simulation
analysis, to withstand social implementation.
In the future, a cross-disciplinary academic field will be created alongside a
method to modify the policy-making process into an objectively verifiable,
evidence-based one for policy-makers in society at large. I am currently offering
“Introduction to Policy Engineering” as a foundational course at Ritsumeikan
University. I hope to see the creation and development of this nascent discipline in
the future.
References
Zhou W, Nakagami K (2009) Modification of energy and resource systems and policy empirical
research for realizing low carbon society. Report of the Japan Global Environment Research
Fund (JGPSSI): Hc-084 EcoDesign of low carbon society based on regional partnership
between urban and rural areas
Zhou W, Ren H, Su X, Qian X Yamazaki M, Ibano K, Sun F, Haga H (2014) Toward the realization
of East Asian low carbon community and the establishment of ‘Policy Engineering’: summary
and prospect of R-GIRO Project ‘Fundamental Technology Development and Strategic Innovation for Low Carbon Society’. Policy Sci 21(3):213–230
22 Integration of Local and Global Perspectives
413
issue or one policy addressing multiple issues) and quantitative approaches; as
society becomes more complex, it is becoming essential to understand the quantitative cost-effectiveness of those policies. The discipline is also characterized by
optimality (maximizing social utility and minimizing cost (risk)) and connectivity
between theory and practice. In other words, it is a discipline that integrates various
approaches to seek optimal solutions (policies) to solve complex social problems in
the most appropriate way.
Policy engineering is not a discipline for the sake of discipline, it is a practice.
Further, it is the application, implementation, and realization of discipline in the real
world, with an aim to improve the real world. For example, the IPCC, in its series of
assessment reports, cited a number of analyses of integrated assessment models,
which combine natural and social scientific knowledge to test the effectiveness of
socioeconomic policies. Although the IPCC assessment reports did not discuss the
nature of policy-making, they did provide a number of examples of policy engineering in the real-world context. Future policy recommendations must be strategic,
systematic, quantitative, and concrete, based on quantitative evaluation simulation
analysis, to withstand social implementation.
In the future, a cross-disciplinary academic field will be created alongside a
method to modify the policy-making process into an objectively verifiable,
evidence-based one for policy-makers in society at large. I am currently offering
“Introduction to Policy Engineering” as a foundational course at Ritsumeikan
University. I hope to see the creation and development of this nascent discipline in
the future.
References
Zhou W, Nakagami K (2009) Modification of energy and resource systems and policy empirical
research for realizing low carbon society. Report of the Japan Global Environment Research
Fund (JGPSSI): Hc-084 EcoDesign of low carbon society based on regional partnership
between urban and rural areas
Zhou W, Ren H, Su X, Qian X Yamazaki M, Ibano K, Sun F, Haga H (2014) Toward the realization
of East Asian low carbon community and the establishment of ‘Policy Engineering’: summary
and prospect of R-GIRO Project ‘Fundamental Technology Development and Strategic Innovation for Low Carbon Society’. Policy Sci 21(3):213–230
22 Integration of Local and Global Perspectives
413
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