Universitatea ‘Lucian Blaga” Sibiu

Facultatea de Stiinte Economice

What is a Policy Analysis Paper?

Guidelines: How to write your policy analysis paper
Global Economic Policy: 2020/2021
Course Convenor: Dr. Ioana Negru

In general terms, a policy analysis paper is a paper that addresses a public policy
concern, issue or debate. For this assessment you are required to write a 2500 word
policy paper as a group (ideally 3-4 students; maximum 4 students) to a stakeholder
of your choice (e.g. European Commissioner, Head of Member State) which provides
a critical discussion of the following key issue:

Using a country case-study (case-studies), what policies a country should

adopt? You can choose any policy studied within this course.

The assessment should be written in report style, and make appropriate use of
relevant material, data, charts and diagrams.

Your policy paper will be assessed on the basis of the extent to which the policy
paper:

● Provides a clear outline of the aim and focus of the policy paper;
● Provides an in-depth consideration of the relevant themes and ideas that are
pertinent to the issue under consideration;
● Makes good use of relevant data, charts and diagrams to support the central
narrative contained with the policy paper;
● Provides a critical and analytical discussion of the relevant issues;
● Appropriately references the arguments contained within the policy paper using a
wide range of sources;
● Provides a clear, structured and coherent review and analysis of the relevant
issues.

Submission Deadline: Your policy paper should be submitted by 6 pm on 14thth

January 2021. The group policy papers are to be posted/uploaded on google
classroom and any delays in sending the papers are penalised with 5% per day!
Guidance for assessment

How to approach the assignment:

The best way to approach this assignment is to imagine that you are a policy advisor
who has expertise in the area of economics, the European Union or any other
country of your interest. You have been commissioned by a stakeholder organisation
to write a policy paper on their behalf that explores one of the policy questions
outlined above. Your policy paper will form the briefing that representatives of that
organisation will use to inform their discussions the next time they are participating in
a key summit or meeting.

A policy paper is designed to provide the policy stakeholder organisation with some
advice about what view they should take on a specific policy issue. A policy paper
primarily concerns the development of a policy argument, which is based upon three
components:

● A policy position (i.e. what you think the policy stance of the organisation should
be in relation to the policy issue under consideration);
● Reasons for this position (i.e. what are the arguments for and against the
organisation adopting this viewpoint?);
● Next steps/Recommendations (i.e. what should the organisation recommend
should happen next in relation to this issue?).

Let us assume that the policy issue under consideration is as follows:

Should there be restrictions on the movement of labour within the EU on economic

grounds?

Let us now suppose that you have been asked by the finance minister of France to
prepare a policy paper on this issue for the forthcoming Council of Ministers meeting.
You need to obviously start off preparing for this task by undertaking some research.
Firstly you need to find out the official legal position in relation to the EU Constitution
and legislation regarding the freedom of movement of labour. Secondly you need to
find out whether any Member State can impose restrictions on either the volume of
labour movement, the skills profile of the migrant labour, or where the migrant labour
is coming from. Finally you need to read the relevant economic literature on labour
movement in relation to economic productivity and the operation of economic
markets – and discover if there are any economic barriers to the free movement of
labour.
Having examined all of these issues, you can now construct your policy argument
and write your policy paper. You decide that the finance minister of France should
oppose the restriction of movement of labour within the EU on economic
grounds (policy position) because it will increase economic productivity, reduce
costs, and solve the imbalances in employment within certain regions or
sectors of the economy (reasons for policy position) – and that France should take
direct steps to (a) prevent Member States from restricting the flow of migrant
labour from Eastern Europe; and (b) provide specialist programmes of support
to help migrant workers settle in France (next steps)

You now have your policy argument in a concise format. Now you need to simply
develop each component of your policy argument. The reasons for policy position
element of the policy argument are going to form the largest component of your
policy paper. Although you are trying to set out reasons and arguments for adopting
the chosen policy position, you must remember that you will also need to consider
and set out the arguments against your adopted policy position and why you have
rejected these arguments.

It really doesn’t matter which stakeholder organisation you write your policy paper for
– but obviously they should be an organisation which has an interest in the policy
issue under consideration (i.e. it would look a bit odd if you wrote a policy paper on
reforming the CAP which was addressed to the Defence Minister of a Member
State!).

How should my policy paper look like?

The policy paper should be written in a report format, and make appropriate use of
sections, headings and sub-headings to set out different components of the policy
argument. Your policy paper should be addressed to your chosen policy stakeholder
organisation and should start off be setting out the purpose of the policy paper e.g.

This policy paper is for the attention of the Finance Minister of France, and is
designed to explore whether France should support the restriction of the movement
of labour within the EU.

You should make appropriate use of relevant sources and data, and you should use
tables, charts, and diagrams when these are the most effective way of
communicating this information.
How do I know whether my policy paper has achieved its objectives?

Although it is very hard to remove yourself from a piece of assessed work that you
have spent a lot of time researching and writing, the best way of testing whether your
policy paper has achieved its objectives is to forget that you have written the paper
and pretend you are the stakeholder organisation that the paper is written for. If you
were the finance minister for France, would you have a clear understanding of (a)
what was being recommended; (b) why was it being recommended; and (c) what
should be done next on the basis of reading your policy paper? If the answer is yes,
then your policy paper has met its objectives. If the answer is no, then you need to
go back and look at the clarity of what you have written and see whether any of the
sections need revising.

How is a Policy Paper different from a standard academic essay?

A policy analysis paper is directed at policy makers and its main purpose is not
necessarily to make an original contribution to on-going academic/scientific debates
on any particular issue (though this can, of course, also be the case), but to inform
the policy-maker(s) and to convince them to adopt a specific policy option.

This difference in target audience has implications for the way in which a policy paper
is organised and structured.

How to structure a policy analysis paper

1. Identification/descriptions of the policy problem (Is the policy concern

clearly stated? Is it clear why this policy problem is important to the policy-
maker(s) addressed?)
2. Relevant Background information (information considered in arriving at the
eventual policy recommendation: Is it clear what the scope and severity of the
policy problem is? Have the key stakeholders in this policy debate been
identified? Is it clear what different approaches/arguments to this problem
are? Where appropriate, has core data been included in this background
information?)
3. Discussion of alternative policy options (a critical comparative evaluation
of each policy alternative; is it clear how economically and politically feasible
either one of these policy alternatives might be)?
4. Policy Recommendation (Is this clearly set out at the end of the document?
Is it clear why the author has arrived at this policy conclusion?)

Note: Please note that points 2 and 3 above are related to the Policy
Reasons (stated in the initial structure of the policy paper).

Core marking criteria are focused on your ability to follow the above
structure within the given word limit, will be:
1. Identification/description of the policy problem: 20%
2. Relevant Background Information: 25%
3. Discussion of Alternative Policy Options: 25%
4. Policy Recommendations: 30%