LIST OF PANELS

How do the consequences of a policy become a source of another social problem? This inquiry has been enduring in the social sciences, forming a long line of research. In an idealized version of the policy process, policies are typically regarded as a solution purposefully designed to address social problems or benefit certain groups without harming others. However, policies oftentimes become a source of new problems, unintentionally or even intentionally. This paradox is so common that we can find rich examples: e.g., stricter policy enforcement that increases social disparities in the justice system, raising the minimum wage increasing unemployment, and increasing the legal drinking age leading to riskier alcohol consumption.

Side effects of blunt government measures are not a novel occurrence; social science scholars have long recognized this problem. For example, Robert K. Merton in 1936 and Aaron Wildavsky in 1980 already pointed to the occurrence of policy side effects (labeled as unintendend/unanticipated consequences) as emanating the interconnectivity of policy objectives and other components in society. Economic and policy analysis studies have developed sophisticated tools for assessing policy trade-offs, which are widely used in policymaking practice today, including cost-benefit analysis and cost-effectiveness analysis, to quantify policy side effects as costs and build a common ground to control the costs with respect to the benefits. In Political Science, policy feedback theory has attempted to explain how policies intentionally or unintentionally shape political landscapes and structure political behaviors and decisions.

However, these early insights have yet to be incorporated into public policy scholarship to address practical challenges in dealing with policy side effects. This gap was especially exposed during the COVID-19 pandemic when governments implemented various stringent policy measures, that, while likely driving down COVID-19 cases also had devastating impacts on people’s lives and society across a range of outcomes. The extent to which these predictable side effects were considered in policy deliberations is not evident. Further, the two years of experience with the COVID-19 pandemic has taught us that simply knowing the possibility that policy side effects might occur does not address dilemmas of policymaking during public health crises. How do we know when the side effects are significant enough to warrant reconsideration of the policy? Current policy literature rarely addresses how policymakers can better anticipate policy side effects and how to handle and respond to the side effects and subsequent political ramifications.

This large research gap, therefore, raises questions about how we should understand policy side effects and handle them. In this regard, this panel opens an academic discussion on policy side effects by calling for papers that theoretically or empirically investigate issues of policy side effects. Example questions of interest include:

- What are predictable policy side effects and how can we better anticipate them?
- Why and when do policies produce side effects?
- What are the social and political ramifications of policy side effects?
- Are policy side effects socially constructed?
- What are the types of moral dilemmas in implementing policies with expected side effects?

This panel invites a wide variety of papers that theoretically or empirically discuss policy consequences under the umbrella of policy side effects. The themes include empirical assessments of unintended consequences of public policy, including health, political, and social ramifications; theoretical frameworks and typologies that help reveal patterns or unpack the variety of policy side effects; practical recommendations for minimizing or monitoring policy side effects; and novel methods for assessing policy side effects. We are particularly interested in topics that discuss the following issues:

- policy consequences that, whether intentionally or unintentionally, undermine the stability of existing institutions or social norms, such as the health care system, the economy, the education system, culture, and social interactions; and
- qualitative research that deals with policymakers’ behaviors, debates among stakeholders, and moral dilemmas in the decision-making process when side effects are expected.