LIST OF PANELS

Notwithstanding path-breaking research that situated policy development with political economy approaches that examine how the organization of markets and politics affect one another (e.g., Hall, Thelen, Blyth), policy studies too often fail to integrate theory and approaches from political economy (John 2018). This disconnect is surprising because policy studies and political economy seek to explain the same outcomes: who benefits and who doesn’t from public policies, and why do policies vary across space and time. The purpose of this panel is to join up policy studies and political economy by examining how the organization of market relations and politics affect policy choices, including their design and pattern of establishment, entrenchment, and expansion over time. It addresses these research questions through the lens of any of the three approaches to comparative political economy: a material/structuralist approach that emphasizes the role of interest-based coalitions; an institutionalist approach that prioritizes the role of institutions in determining political actors’ choices and/or solving collective action problems; or a constructivist approach that theorizes the causal role of ideas and policy frames in giving traction during conditions of policy uncertainty (Blyth 2009). A major theme of the panel pertains to the extent of complementarity between the aforementioned perspectives. For instance, is it possible to consolidate the manifold theories of policymaking into a single canon? Is it desirable? The panel is expected to elicit paper submissions from practitioners of both comparative and positive political economy. Papers should explore theoretical, substantive, and methodological issues at the nexus of public policy and political economy, with a focus on articulating and justifying social scientific best practices given the research question. 

Papers that address theoretical, substantive and methodological issues at the intersection of public policy and both positive and comparative political economy are welcomed.  Theoretically, papers are welcomed that examine the compatibility/complementarity of different policy process theories and political economy perspectives when it comes to explaining policy outcomes. Examples include papers that address how building in market relations and structures improves understanding of policy design choices, the nature of policy feedback processes, and subsequent policy outcomes and development. Papers that use mixed methods--qualitative, quantitative, and computational (textual) analyses--to bring political economy and policy studies into dialogue are welcome. Substantively, the panel welcomes papers that focus on a range of sectoral and macro-level policies.