Implementing Economic Policy: An analytical framework

The article presents an analytical framework developed to aid research into the implementation of the Thatcher government’s Medium-Term Financial Strategy (MTFS). The framework utilises the growing literature on the analysis of public policy in a way intended to be relevant to the study of the implementation of economic policy in the UK. Section one deals with the definition of the terms policy and implementation. This is followed by a section which sets out the assumptions which underlie the framework. The framework itself consists of six elements: the antecedents of policy; dramatis personae; policy standards and objectives; negotiation and conflict; implementation influences on policy and wider societal actors. Throughout the article examples from research into the MTFS are introduced to assess the value of theories drawn from the literature.