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Wicked problem literature is increasingly popular, but empirical studies about its relation to public policy are scarce. Additionally, there is no consensus on the convenience of Public Administration as policy makers addressing wicked problems by artificially defining and structuring them. The purpose of the paper is to address these gaps, specifically how, in practice, governments handle wicked problems. Two possible alternatives are discussed: either policy makers are rational, or rather they use heuristics for problem definition. The research focuses on problem definition as part of the policy process. In particular, how the definition of the particular wicked problematic situation was reflected in legislation: disappearances in Mexico. The case shows that forced disappearances is an heterogeneous phenomenon that can be considered a wicked problem, which further increases the complexity of policies that aim to tackle it. Also, results of applying congruence tests show that policy-makers structure wicked problems when defining them, but after a certain amount of energy has been spent on this task, policy makers employ heuristic devices. This contributes to understand how flesh and bone decision-makers build public policies. ; La literatura sobre problemas perversos es cada vez más popular, pero estudios empíricos sobre su relación con las políticas públicas son escasos. Además, no existe consenso sobre la conveniencia de que la administración pública estructure artificialmente este tipo de problemas. El propósito del documento es abordar estas brechas, específicamente cómo, en la práctica, los gobiernos manejan problemas perversos. Se discuten dos alternativas: o los responsables de la formulación de políticas son racionales o, más bien, utilizan la heurística para la definición del problema. La investigación se centra en la definición de problemas como parte del proceso de políticas públicas. En particular, cómo la definición de un problema perverso particular se reflejó en la legislación: las desapariciones en México. El caso muestra que las desapariciones forzadas son un fenómeno heterogéneo que puede considerarse un problema perverso, lo que aumenta aún más la complejidad de las políticas que apuntan a enfrentarlo. Además, los resultados del método de congruencia muestran que los responsables de la formulación de políticas estructuran problemas complejos al definirlos, pero después de gastado una cierta cantidad de energía en esta tarea, los responsables de la formulación de políticas emplean heurísticas. Esto contribuye a comprender cómo los responsables de la toma de decisiones construyen políticas públicas.

This paper looks into decision-making processes in the course of a crisis. In particular, it looks into how governments decide and use heuristics during crisis management, in order to transfer policies, as an attempt to reinforce or regain their legitimacy in unsettled times. It aims to understand how two institutional features, one intrinsic–problem uncertainty– and one extrinsic –ambiguity at the international level– affect decision-making. It develops a typology of policy transfer under these two dimensions.It examines the case of disappearances in Mexico, where Congress issued national legislation in a crisis generated after the disappearance of 43 students in 2014. The Law on Disappeared was a result of an explicit attempt to transfer international guidelines.Results show that, as long as the degree of uncertainty surrounding the problem is low, heuristics change according the degree of ambiguity at the international level: when they are clear, tallying occurs, while when they are ambiguous, one-reason heuristics would favor binding instrument.Furthermore, findings also point towards a nuanced understanding on the effect of a high degree of problem uncertainty on policy transfer. The research is relevant for understanding how, in crisis, decisions adapt based on context.