Path Dependency And Policy Feedback Essay

Public policy entails the actions taken by government with the aim of addressing a certain issue within the local, state, federal or even international stature. This requires the efforts of the government organizations in crafting and implementing the public policies in order to offer protection and benefits to their populations. It basically patents the obvious sense and conscience of the entire population within a state that spreads out and applies to issues pertaining the health, safety and safety welfare of the public. Additionally, public policy describes a clearly settled and generalized opinion by the public in terms of its relations to the duties of citizens to their comrades. Therefore, through the public policy there emerges the path dependency that creates positive policy feedback. This in turn brings about some form of difficulty in switching a different approach to making policy. Seemingly, public policy derives something that fluctuates with the changing needs brought by the economy, the social customs as well as moral aspirations found within the population. This occurs through the way it enables and influences legislation to be enacted, executed and interpreted. This paper discusses these issues and brings out in what way they are related. This will be accompanied by comprehensive definition of path dependency as well as policy feedback. In order to accomplish this, it will discuss how the form often the latter and how path dependency makes it difficult to change in that area.
Path dependency in technology can be demonstrated in the field of QWERTY keyboard, which has highly advanced and developed technology. This means that standards that get marketed first become established due to the fact that the minor standards simply persist out of the legacy they have built up. The QWERTY keyboard has been used in preference of other forms of technology that were proposed in the past. This implies that it describes the way that path dependency predicts amplifications of small differences, which are disproportionate causes of circumstances that occur later. In the field of economics, path dependency theory was largely applied in the explanation of adopted policies of technology against the industrial revolution. These adoptions have significantly impacted the evolutionary economics.
On the other hand, policy feedback refers to the effects that occur after situation brings about certain results that may be negative or positive. For instance, the policies made in the economy that occur as a result of various economic situations lead to instability in the economy. Similarly, they bring about results of gross domestic product that are either above or below full employment equilibrium. Additionally, policy feedback in the economy brings about the price levels not being able to clear the aggregate market. Therefore, through these results it implies that policy feedback is the policies or even strategies implemented by the government in order to change the aggregate supply of money or even change the level of taxes. Policy feedback may also be as a result of changes in the aggregate level of consumption that change the government expenditure. For instance, when the net exports within a country decline, policy feedback decreases the level of government expenditure in order to increase the net exports.
Path dependency and policy change have indicated concepts of relation in the way they have become central to the process of policy making in democracies. The path dependency of policies made in the past brings about a system where these policies shape and at times limit the policies that will be made in terms of policy choices and outputs. The casual processes involved in these two aspects depict that the policies chosen at one point in time have effects at another point in time. This influences the relative likelihood of policy alternatives chosen and applied at another different point in time. Therefore, the policy applied in one point in time may hinder the implementation of another policy due to the fact that the public has adopted that policy. The public opinion is very significant in this area as it influences the implementation of these policies. Any changes that may occur face many difficulties as the public has to approve of it. The consideration of the public opinion is important at this level as it brings about negative or positive feedback depending on how the public will adopt it.
The economic policy is very vital in the public administration and maintenance as it entails the policies in the path dependency of companies as well as government organizations that result to policy feedback. Over the years economists have used a trend of opening similar businesses that attract employees with necessary skill sets for that business. This brings about the effect where businesses and companies seek for employees who are more experienced within a certain geographical congregate. However, since the industries have changed, preference of one place to another brings about disadvantages to employees with similar experience in other places.
This in turn increases the relative efficiency that may bring about a negative feedback as the costs in the local aspect may increase. Similarly, the path dependency used in the past where buyers revolve around sellers and other business entities unite to form business huddles can bring about dependent organizations within a particular region. This depicts the fact that policy feedback results to reinforced patterns where industries turn towards one or another product design. This makes it difficult as policy feedback may limit the implementation of other policies. Any changes may result in negative feedback such as decline of government expenditure due to the decrease in exports.
The likelihood of change in this policy area in the near future is that companies that concentrate their operations within their geographical congregate might end up only producing one variety of products which may lower their exports. However, if they resolved to implement policies that engage other players from other regions they might receive some form of positive policy feedback. This is due to the fact that policy effects at one point in time may increase the benefits or reduce relative costs of the arrangements to influential economic actors as compared to conceivable policy alternatives. Policy feedback is likely to become a common feature in the policymaking aspect of economies and democracies. This is due to the fact that the causal channels and the conditions under which the economic mechanisms are most likely to affect will most likely affect the policy.
The improvement that are realistically possible and specific in terms of what would make it happen involve assessment of the negative policy effects that can shape the economic aspects of policy change and stability. This would involve objective profiling of losses and gains the public policy is likely to generate. The major players in the economy for policy change must encounter substantial costs for status quo. This is due to the fact that public policies generate high costs and bring about diminishing returns for large segments of the society.
Finally, another improvement involves policy alternatives that are endogenous to the consequences of the status quo. This would require the economic players such as companies to look for new policies which have lower costs in the society. It would also require evaluation good solutions with distributions of costs and benefits that might maximize their outcome in the economy. Therefore the prevalence of policy costs should be improved. It may also involve adjustment of the behaviors as well as investing in patterns of activities in a way that minimizes the burdens encountered. This would eliminate the limitation of adaptation in the policies.