Public Policy beyond the Financial Crisis An International Comparative Study

The economic crisis of 2008-2009 and beyond has provided the greatest challenge to public policy in the developed world since the Second World War, as the use of public monies to support banks and declining tax revenues have resulted in rising government borrowing and national debt. This book evaluates the failures of public policy in the half decade before the crisis, using the conceptual framework of complex systems. This analysis reveals the fundamental failings of globalization and the lack of a robust and resilient public sector paradigm to assist countries in economic recovery. The research has benefited from UK Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) funding for a Knowledge Exchange that applied the most relevant and applied aspects of complex systems theory to contemporary policy problems. Innovative statistical methods are used to profile and group countries both before and after the 2008-09 crisis. This shows the countries that are best prepared for the ongoing and prolonged Euro zone crisis of 2010-12. The book proposes a new model of public policy that asserts itself over the paradigm of market liberalism and places the public values of full employment, sustainability and equality at the top of the post crisis policy agenda.

Introduction 1. Complexity Theory and Public Policy: A Radical Methodology 2. Case Based Methods and National Comparisons 3. National Comparisons: The Road to the Crisis 4. Instability and Chaos: The Financial Crisis of 2008-2009 5. Intervention: The Policy Response 6. The Second Crisis: From Private Debt to Public Debt 7. From Austerity to Opportunity: The Next Ten Years 8. Resilient Polices: Protection Against Chaos and Shocks 9. Conclusion: New Methods and New Policies

Philip Haynes is Professor of Public Policy and Head of the School of Applied Social Science at the University of Brighton, UK. His previous books include Managing Complexity in the Public Services (Open University Press, 2003) and Complex Policy Planning (Ashgate Publishing, 1999). His research has been funded by the UK ESRC, Joseph Rowntree Foundation, and government agencies