Understanding the policy instruments mix in higher education r&d : a policy scale development

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to understand the policy instruments mix in higher education research and development (HERD) using structural equation modeling. This modeling helps us to understand the total structure of the factors affecting the policy mix as well as its main actors in a political system. Design/Methodology/Approach: Thirty two identified actors (official institutions) through upstream documents were designed by the method of social network analysis in the form of a political network and their role in policy instruments mix was investigated through their amount of centrality in the network. Also, indicators affecting policy instrument mix were identified using the view of 13 Iranian higher education policy experts. These indicators were categorized in the form of causal, contextual, intervening factors, main phenomena, mechanisms and outcomes. Structural equation modeling was used to confirm the model. Findings: According to the results, the lack of policy logic is the main reason for the lack of justice in the policy instruments mix. Choosing a logic or theory of justice that is the basis of all the instruments in research and development decisions can lead to the integration of concepts and instruments mix. Practical Implications: There is no doubt that the dominant range of thought can have a greater impact on politics in any state, but choosing observers from other aspects of thought will always lead to more effective policies. Originality/Value: How to form policy instruments mix in policymakers' mind has not been investigated in any study so far, and this study explores the indicators governing policy instrument mix.peer-reviewe

Using a policy mix for pollution control: A review of economic literature

This article provides a review of economic studies analyzing the use of multiple policies - a socalled policy mix - to cope with single pollution problems. To guide and structure the review, an analytical framework is developed and applied. The framework integrates transaction costs into the analysis of pollution problems and policies to overcome them. Moreover, it understands a pollution externality not only as a market failure but more generally as the failure of private governance structures. Based on this insight, two rationales for using a policy mix are identified. First, a policy mix may help to correct for multiple reinforcing failures of private governance structures, such as pollution externalities and technological spillovers. Second, a policy mix can be employed if the implementation of single first-best policies brings about high transaction costs - e.g., when marginal pollution damages are heterogeneous or polluters are unlikely to comply with the policy. For each rationale, the relevant literature is presented. Based on the review, avenues for future research are identified. --policy mix,review,environmental policy,pollution control,externality,transaction costs,Coase

The ‘policy mix’ for innovation: rethinking innovation policy in a multi-level, multi-actor context

Recent years have seen the emergence, take-up and use of the term 'policy mix' by innovation policy makers and by policy analysts & scholars alike. Imported from economic policy debates, the term implies a focus on the interactions and interdependencies between different policies as they affect the extent to which intended policy outcomes are achieved. However the meaning of the term remains ambiguous. Nonetheless, we argue that the emergence of the „policy mix‟ concept into common use in the field of innovation policy studies provides us with a window of opportunity to reconsider some basic and often hidden assumptions in order to better deal with a messy and complex, multi-level, multi-actor reality. We draw on the mainstream policy studies literature and on evolutionary thinking in order to re-conceptualise the basic building blocks of innovation policy studies in order to arrive at a useful definition of ‟policy mix‟ interactions. We suggest that this reconceptualisation has profound implications for the scope and focus of innovation policy studies and for what such studies can realistically hope to achieve in terms of policy prescriptions.Policy mix; policy interactions; policy instruments; actors; agency; innovation policy

Using a Policy Mix for Pollution Control – A Review of Economic Literature

This article provides a review of economic studies analyzing the use of multiple policies – a socalled policy mix – to cope with single pollution problems. To guide and structure the review, an analytical framework is developed and applied. The framework integrates transaction costs into the analysis of pollution problems and policies to overcome them. Moreover, it understands a pollution externality not only as a market failure but more generally as the failure of private governance structures. Based on this insight, two rationales for using a policy mix are identified. First, a policy mix may help to correct for multiple reinforcing failures of private governance structures, such as pollution externalities and technological spillovers. Second, a policy mix can be employed if the implementation of single first-best policies brings about high transaction costs – e.g., when marginal pollution damages are heterogeneous or polluters are unlikely to comply with the policy. For each rationale, the relevant literature is presented. Based on the review, avenues for future research are identified.policy mix, review, environmental policy, pollution control, externality, transaction costs, Coase

Going beyond instrument interactions: towards a more comprehensive policy mix conceptualization for environmental technological change

Reaching a better understanding of the policies and politics of transitions presents a main agenda item in the emerging field of sustainability transitions. One important requirement for these transitions, such as the move towards a decarbonized energy system, is the redirection and acceleration of technological change, for which policies play a key role. Several studies of policies supporting environmental technological change have argued for the need to combine different policy instruments in so-called policy mixes. However, existing policy mix studies often fall short of reflecting the complexity and dynamics of actual policy mixes and the underlying politics of (re)designing them. In this paper we take a first step towards a more comprehensive, interdisciplinary policy mix concept for environmental technological change based on a review of the bodies of literature on innovation studies, environmental economics and policy analysis. The concept introduces a clear terminology and consists of the three building blocks elements, processes and characteristics, which can be delineated by several dimensions. Throughout the paper, we illustrate the concept using the example of the policy mix for fostering the transition of the German energy system to renewable power generation technologies. We argue that the proposed concept provides an integrating analytical framework for empirical studies analyzing the impact of the policy mix on environmental technological change and sustainability transitions more broadly. Finally, we derive policy implications and suggest avenues for future research

Organic farming – can policy and markets mix?

Organic farming is an approach to agriculture that emphasises environmental protection, animal welfare, food quality and health, sustainable resource use and social justice objectives, and which utilises the market to help support these objectives and compensate for the internalisation of externalities. Since the early 1990s, the organic sector has grown rapidly across Europe and globally, thanks to a combination of strong consumer demand, developing regulatory frameworks, direct financial support and insecurity in the conventional agricultural sector. The sector’s success in utilising the market to support the broader public good goals has been seen as a role model for mixing market and public support mechanisms in agriculture, but the market has also come to dominate in many circumstances, threatening the achievement of the underlying goals and the integrity of the organic approach. With market growth slowing across Europe, has organic farming achieved its potential? Or is this just an illustration of the limits of relying on markets to support the delivery of public goods – another example of market failure in the making

Challenges for policy mix in the context

The aim of this article is to present the essence of policy mix and the extraordinary actions undertaken by the monetary and fiscal authorities in Poland in response to the recent financial crisis. In the article, the hypothesis has been put forward that the challenges faced by monetary and fiscal authorities have contributed to carrying out coordinated actions, especially in support of economic growth during the recent financial crisis. As a result, in Poland during the last financial crisis, it seemed to observe greater cooperation between monetary and fiscal authorities

Combining emissions trading and emissions taxes in a multi-objective world

The combination of emissions trading and emissions taxes is usually rejected as redundant or inefficient. This conclusion is based on the restrictive assumption that both policies are exclusively meant to control pollution. However, particularly taxes may pursue a variety of other policy objectives as well, such as raising fiscal revenues or promoting equity. Multiple objectives may justify multiple policies. In this case, welfare losses with respect to pollution control may be traded off by benefits from attaining other policy objectives. Consequently, pragmatic policy recommendations have to be based on an in-depth understanding of interactions in the policy mix. This article makes three contributions that are relevant in this respect. (1) The most important factors distorting pollution abatement under the policy mix are identified. This insight is required to estimate the actual extent of inefficiency in controlling pollution, and to compare it with benefits of attaining other objectives of the tax. (2) The policy mix is not only compared to the unrealistic ideal of an efficient single emissions trading scheme but also to a suboptimal heterogeneous emissions tax. It is shown that if the tax is required to address multiple policy objectives, the implementation of an emissions trading scheme in addition may in fact increase the efficiency of pollution control. (3) It is demonstrated that welfare losses can be minimized within a policy mix by modifying emissions trading design. --policy mix,emissions trading,emissions tax,efficiency

Climate policies with pollution externalities and learning spillovers

Economic theory suggests that with a pollution externality and learning spillovers related to renewable energy technologies, the optimal climate policy mix includes an emissions policy and an output subsidy to the learning industry. Instead of output subsidies, feed-in tariffs are often implemented in addition to emissions policies. This paper reveals that this policy mix may theoretically provide for a first-best outcome as well. However, its efficient design may be cumbersome for regulators. An emissions tax must be below the Pigovian level and differentiate between fossil fuels. Moreover, both tax and feed-in tariff must be adapted continuously. --Emissions tax,feed-in tariffs,policy mix,spillovers,learning by doing