Applying a Public Policy Evaluation Methodology for Local Socio-Economic Impacts:an exploration in realistic modelling

Abstract

This research seeks to evaluate public policy impacts through a socio-economic indicators approach. To explore this, the research focused on the privatisation process of the British Steel Corporation. A review of the literature on privatisation confirmed a research gap concerning privatisation impacts at local levels. The research also identified the need to derive a public policy evaluation methodology that can adequately measure these local socio-economic impacts. An appraisal of the methodologies currently in use in public policy evaluation and the key findings of several studies of public policy initiatives in communities supported the choice of a realistic evaluation approach, originated on the causal chain of Context, Mechanisms and Outcomes — CMO. This methodology was then developed through the application of four asset-based capital concepts (Economic, Human, Social and Physical). These indicators enabled the systematic arrangement of social and economic indicators. The research applied the case study approach in relation to two English ‘steel’ communities: Wolverhampton (West Midlands) and Sheffield (South Yorkshire). Applying the criteria analysis of narrative, ‘counternarrative’ and Braudel’s three-tied historiographical time concepts, the research concludes that the privatisation programme ignored different variables that both communities presented before the implementation of the programme. As a consequence, privatisation did not generate the desired local outcomes. The realistic evaluation model explored in this research interprets the outcome of an intervention in terms of a set of generative mechanisms and the contexts in which those mechanisms are set to work. In both case studies presented, the privatisation programme was unable to induce appropriate local adaptation. Indeed, the programme served to aggravate failures in both communities' asset bases. Contributions from this research are both theoretic and empirical. Firstly, the research applies a CMO model to an economic programme (privatisation) in order to explore not only economic, but also human and social consequences. Secondly, the research incorporates refined notions of time and of the nature of the value creation process into the abstract CMO logic. Finally, the research uses qualitative approaches adopted from other social sciences beyond Public Administration to structure and analyse the cases and generate appropriate policy-rich findings and conclusions.