Public Policy Investment

Anthony M. Bertelli is Professor of Public Policy and Law and holds the C.C. Crawford Chair in Management and Performance at the University of Southern California. He is also Professor of Public Policy Analysis at the University of Birmingham. His work explores the role of political institutions in shaping public policy outcomes and he is author of Madison's Managers: Public Administration and the Constitution (2006) and The Political Economy of Public Sector Governance (2012).Peter John is Professor of Political Science and Public Policy at University College London. He is known for his work on public policy, agenda-setting, and local politics. He is author of Analyzing Public Policy (2012), Local Governance in Western Europe (2001), Making Policy Work (2012), and Exits, Voices and Social Investment (2012). He is interested in how to involve citizens in public policy and management, and in the use of randomized controlled trials, many of which were presented in Nudge, Nudge, Think, Think: Experimenting with Ways to Change Civic Behaviour (2011). Professors Bertelli and John edit the Journal of Public Policy and are co-authors of Policy Agendas in British Politics (2013).

• 1. Introduction ; 2. Policy Prioritization ; 3. Statecraft and the Art of Governing ; 4. Public Policy Investment and Electoral Ambition ; 5. Valuing Public Policies ; 6. Quantitative Empirical Strategy ; 7. Policy Investment Illustrated in Britain, 1971-2000 ; 8. Policy Investment Performance in Britain, 1971-2000 ; 9. Investment, Statecraft, and General Elections, 1971-2000 ; 10. Conclusion

This ambitious book takes a new look at party policy prioritization in government, drawing on financial theory to systematize the way decision-makers think about their political agendaThe book is not just an impressive intellectual achievement but a fresh and invigorating way of viewing politics within the rational choice tradition. A must-buy for anyone really interested in the development of political science and the forces driving contemporary British politics.