Policy tools are a critical part of policy-making, providing the ‘means’ by which policy ‘ends’ are achieved. Knowledge of their different origin, nature and capabilities is vital for understanding policy formulation and decision-making, and they have been the subject of inquiry in many policy-related disciplines and sector-specific studies. Yet many crucial aspects of policy tools remain unexplored. Existing studies on policy tools used in policy formulation tend to focus on ‘substantive’ tools – those used to directly affect policy outcomes such as regulation or subsidies – and largely neglect ‘procedural’ tools used to indirectly but significantly affect policy processes and outcomes. A key aim of this special issue is to fill this knowledge gap in the field. This article introduces the issue by establishing that procedural tools play a more determining role in public policy-making than is generally acknowledged and deserve a more systematic inquiry into their workings, their impact on the policy process and the organization and delivery of public and private goods and services.

中文翻译：

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理论与实践中的程序性政策工具

政策工具是政策制定的关键部分，提供了实现政策“目的”的“手段”。了解它们的不同起源、性质和能力对于理解政策制定和决策至关重要，并且它们一直是许多与政策相关的学科和特定行业研究的主题。然而，政策工具的许多关键方面仍未探索。现有关于政策制定中使用的政策工具的研究倾向于关注“实质性”工具——那些用于直接影响政策结果的工具，例如监管或补贴——而在很大程度上忽视了用于间接但显着影响政策过程和结果的“程序性”工具。本期特刊的一个主要目的是填补该领域的这一知识空白。