Through a Glass Darkly: Cause and Effect in Refugee Resettlement Policies

In: Journal of policy analysis and management: the journal of the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management, Band 5, Heft 1, S. 119-137

Abstract

The interpretation of cause & effect in human action is often extremely difficult for the policy analyst, especially in determining whether causal relationships are inferred from the evidence or imputed to it. This dilemma characterizes certain types of government activity in which distinctions between policy & implementation, decisions & actions, & inputs & outcomes are unclear. The efforts of the federal government between 1960 & 1985 to assist refugees in securing employment illustrate how the flow of events may elude causal explanation, & how conclusions & recommendations for improvement derived from the evidence may prove highly ambiguous. In such instances, the most rational course open to policy analysts may be to concede ignorance. HA