Introduction to

Public Policy
Policy Formulation and Program
Administration(PA123)
Semester 1, 2021-2022
__________
Prof. Rodolfo E. Regala Jr.
College of Business Management and Accountancy
PUBLIC POLICY: Nature and Characteristics

• ubiquitous or ever-present
• confers advantages and disadvantages
• causes pleasure, irritation, and pain
• collectively have important consequences
for our well-being and happiness
PUBLIC POLICY: Nature and Characteristics

• combination of basic decisions,

commitments, and actions made by those
who hold or affect government positions
PUBLIC POLICY: Nature and Characteristics

• direct the flow of resources that impact the

public; resources may be defined in terms
of economic advantages, individual rights,
or shifts in political power
PUBLIC POLICY: Definition

• designates the behavior of some actor or

set of actors, such as an official a
governmental agency, or a legislature, in
an area of activity
PUBLIC POLICY: Definition

• “whatever governments choose to do or

not to do”
• “the relationship of a governmental unit to
its environment”
PUBLIC POLICY: Definition

• proposed course of action of a person,

group, or government within a given
environment providing obstacles and
opportunities which the policy was
proposed to utilize and overcome in an
effort to reach a goal or realize an objective
or purpose
PUBLIC POLICY: Definition

• Policy is a relatively stable, purposive

course of action followed by an actor or set
of actors in dealing with a problem or
matter of concern.
PUBLIC POLICY: Definition

• This focuses on what is actually done

instead of what is only proposed or
intended, and it differentiates a policy from
a decision, which is essentially a specific
choice among alternatives
PUBLIC POLICY: Definition

Implications
1. The definition links policy to purposive or
goal-oriented action rather than to random
behavior or chance occurrences.
PUBLIC POLICY: Definition

Implications
2. Policies consist of courses or patterns of
action taken over time by governmental
officials rather than their separate, discrete
decisions
PUBLIC POLICY: Definition

Implications
3. Public policies emerge in response to policy
demands, or those claims for action or inaction
on some public issue made by other actors—
private citizens, group representatives or
legislators and other public officials —upon
government officials and agencies
PUBLIC POLICY: Definition

Implications
4. Policy involves what governments actually
do, not just what they intend to do or what
officials say they are going to do.
PUBLIC POLICY: Definition

Implications
5. A public policy may be either positive or
negative.
PUBLIC POLICY: Definition

Implications
6. Public policy, at least in its positive form,
is based on law and is authoritative.
Thank You!