The Niskanen Center’s State Capacity Initiative works to ensure that government not only sets smart policy but also delivers on it. Even the best-designed policies can stumble in execution. Meeting today’s complex and urgent challenges requires reimagining the structures and processes that underpin how government works.
Niskanen believes that better legislation is critical to achieving this goal. With that in mind, to design this legislative guide, we collaborated with policy experts, Congressional staffers, and agency staff responsible for implementing policy.
In true “test and learn” fashion, this guide will evolve. Your feedback helps us refine–please let us know what works, what doesn’t, and what is missing so that we can continue learning, codifying, and building.
This guide was developed to help Congress address policy implementation and delivery challenges described in the A state capacity agenda for 2025 and beyond report. This comprehensive analysis spotlights the dysfunctions that well-intended policies often face when the time comes to actually implement them, including the lack of a feedback loop between policy creators and implementers.
Additional resources
- A state capacity agenda for 2025 and beyond describes challenges of government capacity and four clear areas for reform
- POPVOX Foundation guide on outcomes-driven policy defines outcomes-driven policy and how it differs from traditional policymaking, and the benefits of outcomes-driven policy
- Code for America Qualitative Research Practice Guide outlines best practices for qualitative research practices that could be used to test draft legislation or elements of policy
