Doering, Otto C., III

Jones, Bob F.

English

Research Papers in Economics

PUBLIC POLICY EDUCATION  ON INFLATION
Otto Doering  and Bob Jones
Associate Professor  and Professor, Purdue University
The  objective  of  our  approach  is  to  provide  general  economic
education  as  a  context  for  more  detailed  discussion  on  inflation.
We  find  an  increasing  amount  of  material  on  inflation,  but  the
citizen  has no frame  of reference  from  which  to evaluate  this infor-
mation.  Thus,  we  try  to  provide  the  individual  with  a  critical  ap-
proach  towards  policy  alternatives.  In  a  sense,  we  try  to  instill  a
number of the important questions which we feel ought to be asked.
Audiences
We  attempt to work  with mixed audiences.  It is especially impor-
tant  that the  audience  include  both those  who  gain  and those who
lose  from inflation.  It has been  critically important to the success of
our  program  to  have  different  values  and  viewpoints  represented  in
the audience.
General Format
The first portion  of our program  is the general economic context.
We  then work into specific  aspects  of inflation, relate  this to gainers
and losers,  and then present policy alternatives.  In a sense the "dull"
subject  matter comes  first. We  feel this is  important because  by the
time  we  get to the alternatives  the audience has been made aware of
the many  basic  trade-offs  that usually  prevent  any single  alternative
from having all benefits and no costs.
At times  we  have discussion and questions following our presenta-
tion.  More  recently  we  have  divided  the  audience  into  groups  and
had them debate  the alternatives  among  themselves  and try to reach
agreement.
Team Teaching
We  have  handled  this program  on  a team  basis  and have  found it
invaluable.  Both  the  topic  and  the  breadth  of  interest  from  most
audiences  makes  it  almost  impossible  for one  individual  to respond
121adequately,  let  alone  cover  a broad  base  of material  initially.  While
this  is  a substantial commitment of resources for public meetings, we
would  not present  such  a program  without the breadth  that two in-
dividuals of different backgrounds  provide.
Program Concerns
One  concern  is  whether  public  meetings  are  the  most  effective
format.  Would  we  be  able  to  reach  a  wider audience  through  mass
media?  Our  bias  is  that  on  a  complex  topic  like  this,  the  public
meeting  is  better,  because  of the time  we  then  have  to develop  the
subject,  and  because  of the feedback  we  get through  questions and
discussion.
Another  concern  is evaluation.  We have not been formally evaluat-
ing  our public  policy  programs  with  our audiences.  Can  we  develop
an instrument  that would  measure  the degree to which we improved
the  individual's  capacity  to  make  informed  choices?  Evaluation  of
public policy education  is not the same as evaluating a meeting where
technical information is given and  adoption of a new technology  is to
follow. We  know many of our clientele  feel the meeting was valuable.
We're not sure we could measure more than this subjective response.
122

PUBLIC POLICY EDUCATION ON INFLATION

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Research Papers in Economics