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Arguably, one of the most important developments in the field of applied economics during the last decades has been the emergence of systematic policy evaluation, with its distinct focus on the establishment of causality.By contrast to the natural sciences, the objects of our scientific interest typically exert some influence on their treatment status under the policy to be evaluated and on their economic outcomes. Thus, economic policy advice can only be successful, if it is based on an appropriate study design, experimental or observational. It will strive in societies that provide liberal access to data, accept the merits of randomized assignment and guard the independence of research institutions.

Since 1970 the world economy has gone through a series of grave crises which have stimulated an intensive discussion about the economic and political relations between industrialized and developing countries. As seen from the Federal Republic of Germany, the witnessed events have not only an international dimension, but they focus attention again on one particular problem of national economic policy, the relationship of external economic policy and development policy, because the new strains on the international plane are in part reflected by this relationship.

This is a book on economic policy that takes the role of democracy seriously. It challenges the conventional wisdom espoused by leaders of both major political parties in the US, and increasingly by leaders of other nations, that markets and not democratic policy formation should determine the legitimate role of private interests in the conduct of the economy. The authors of the essays in this book reject the mainstream neoclassical view that the market should rule "über alles." Examining the problems existing in a number of crucial areas of economic policy, they demonstrate the inadequacy of orthodox view that markets can generate economic welfare without the guidance of democratically formulated economic policies. Using the principles of the original institutional economics (OIE), they fashion long-term strategies for the formation of economic policies that can accommodate institutional changes necessary to meet the ever-changing circumstances faced by nations in a global economy. The editors, Tool and Bush, have assembled a group of scholars with special expertise in the problems they address. In each instance they offer original insights into issues that many in the mainstream had thought were settled. The analysis and policy proposals of the essays in this book do not defer to the dominant vested interests in industry, academe, or government. The views expressed are fresh, candid, and break out of the ideological boxes that have for so long encapsulated public debates on economic policies

Written by four recognized experts with senior experience in research and government, this text is the first comprehensive survival kit for students and practitioners of economic policy. It is set to become an indispensable resource for everyone involved or interested in modern economic policy. Academic scholars willing to engage in policy discussions and students at graduate or advanced undergraduate levels will find it an essential bridge to the policy world. What makes the book unique is that it combines like no other, facts-based analysis, state-of-the art theories and models, and insights from first-hand policy experience at national and international levels. The book has grown out of ten years of experience teaching economic policy at the graduate level. It provides an intellectually coherent framework to understand the potentialities and limits of economic policy. It addresses positive dimensions (how do policies impact on modern economies?), normative dimensions (what should policymakers aim to achieve and against what should their action be judged?) and political-economy constraints (which are the limits and obstacles to public intervention?). It fills an important gap by reconciling in each major policy area stylized facts of recent economic history, key questions faced by contemporary policymakers, and essential lessons from theory which are captured and explained in a clear, concise, and self-contained way. All major areas of domestic and international policymaking are covered: fiscal policy, monetary policy, international finance and exchange-rate policy, tax policy, and long-term growth policies. The book concludes with a special chapter on the lessons of the financial crisis. The authors are intellectually non-partisan and they draw examples from various countries and experiences; from emerging markets to developing economies,