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This chapter examines the renewed interest in the role of ideas, language and discourse in policy studies. Distinguishing postempiricist from mainstream perspectives, the discussion sets the stage for a more detailed presentation of the discourse–analytic approach and the deliberative practices to which it gives rise. There are seven main sections: Reconsidering Ideas; Beyond Self-Interest: Ideas Matter; Neo-Institutionalism and Policy Ideas (neo-institutionalism is defined as a theoretical orientation that has focused on the evolutionary relationship of ideas and norms to institutional practices); Policy Communities, Issue Networks, and Learning –– the studies discussed include Heclo’s (1978) seminal conceptualization of issue networks, and the work of Haas (1992) on policy communities and networks; Critical Theory: Distorted Communication and Discursive Ideals –– this looks at the critical theory of Habermas, which supplies a normative ideal for communication and argumentation; Discourse of Power V this looks at Foucault’s focus on the role of discourses as they have functioned in specific historical contexts; and Postempiricism as Discursive Policy Inquiry.

This chapter assesses the degree to which knowledge regimes influence policymaking. It begins by asking whether individual policy research organizations influence policymakers' thinking? For methodological reasons, it is enormously difficult to determine which policy research organizations are influential on an individual basis. Notably, the evidence offered by people in these organizations by which they try to measure their organization's influence is, by their own admission, often circumstantial at best. Meanwhile, based on content analysis of reports from national councils of economic advisors in the four countries studied here, arguments, analyses, and policy recommendations from these councils reflect the arrangement of the knowledge regimes in which they are located. As such, these cases demonstrate that the structure of knowledge regimes affects the content of the ideas that they produce.

This introductory chapter presents a model of the national construction of knowledge regimes—a model based on the comparative historical analysis presented in subsequent chapters. To begin with, knowledge regimes produce the analysis, advice, and other ideas that others have shown often influence public policy. However, knowledge regimes themselves are shaped largely by the nationally specific policymaking and production regimes with which they are associated. Challenges to and changes in production and policymaking regimes often cause changes in knowledge regimes, which is not surprising insofar as institutional change in one area of a political economy can cause change in another, particularly when people believe that institutional complementarities have broken down and try to renew them. As such, this book argues that policy ideas have national origins and the way they are produced is largely determined by nationally specific institutions.

This postscript offers some suggestions for a research agenda for the future, including questions and propositions for scholars to consider regarding globalization and neoliberal diffusion, comparative political economy, and convergence theory. It asks whether the same conclusions can be obtained if different countries and different policy areas were examined. This curiosity about other countries might translate into efforts to change knowledge regimes, such as by doing more cross-national policy analysis. The chapter also asks whether knowledge regimes are a source of legitimation or a source of inspiration. Ultimately, more effort is required to determine whether the overall structure and practices of a knowledge regime influences the type of ideas it tends to produce.

This chapter examines existing work on monetary policy and makes the case for the necessity of an ideational approach to monetary policy. There have been two broad approaches to studying the politics of monetary policy: rationalist explanations focus on the role of material interests, while social constructivist and sociological approaches emphasize the role of ideas, norms, and identity. Rationalist approaches leave unexamined too much that is essential to monetary politics, including central bankers and the myriad influences on them. Given the global sea change in monetary policy since 2008 that has seen central bankers deploying and considering policies once virtually inconceivable, it is hard to overstate the role of ideas in monetary policy. Indeed, the debates over monetary policy by politicians, central bankers, economists, and others have been largely over the policy ideas themselves. In turning to ideas, the challenge is to specify not only the ideas but also the mechanisms by which they gain influence.

This chapter complicates the widely accepted view that the postwar international monetary system was defined by “embedded liberalism”—the belief that national economic growth needed to take priority over international monetary stability. The late 1950s and early 1960s was a critical period of debate within the international organizations of international economic governance over the question of what the appropriate relationship should be between economic growth and balance of payments equilibrium in an increasingly liberal global economic environment. Embedded liberal ideas had to fight for space against the orthodoxy of classical liberalism within key intergovernmental organizations of postwar international economic management.

This concluding chapter explores the implications of this book's study in three areas: the role of ideas in monetary policy; the role of policy networks in determining ideational coherence and salience; and the process of ideational change. Given that policy ideas do matter, and indeed are central to the politics of monetary policy, scholars need to understand the policy ideas that embody specific goals, priorities, and judgments about monetary policy as well as the conduits through which these ideas ultimately reach policymakers. One analytical value of drawing on policy networks is that it provides a framework for understanding the specific hierarchy of ideational processes that shape outcomes. Meanwhile, ideational change occurred through a breakdown in the ability of existing policy ideas to describe reality, thereby inviting wider political intervention beyond state actors.

This chapter assesses central bankers' attitudes toward inflation and deflation. Specifically, it presents a statistical test to demonstrate whether, and to what extent, the ideas held by the central bankers at the Bank of Japan (BOJ) influenced Japan's monetary policy. The results show a systematic effect of central bankers' ideas on how they determine what should be Japan's monetary base, while controlling for the status of the economy and the political environment. Concerns about inflation are a better predictor of policy than objective economic indicators. The results also reveal an Abe effect, a systematic impact of the policy ideas championed by Prime Minister Abe Shinzō after he came to power in 2012. Meanwhile, there is little evidence that the political business cycle or political partisanship influenced the BOJ policy choices.

This concluding chapter summarizes the arguments discussed in the book before turning to the future, extrapolating what these arguments could mean for future work on the migration and climate change nexus. The moral, so to speak, of this story is that changing policy making on migration and climate change does not just imply coming up with new policy ideas, populating a new policy domain with mentions of migration and climate change, or being open to a sprinkling of new faces in policy arenas. Instead, it entails reconsidering how people understand and talk about migration and climate change and undertaking a process of self-reflection: what perspective do people have on the issue and why? This does not necessarily involve interrogating the reasons why people are moving, or the extent to which people connect changes in weather patterns to their decisions to move or their inability to do so. Rather, this involves a process of critical reflection of the motives, both explicit and implicit, of the policy juggernaut. This perspective is really important if the migration and climate change nexus is going to exist as anything but a dire warning of the realities of climate change, and if policy responses are going to be transformative rather than buttresses for the current global state of affairs.

Although exceptionalism is an important dimension of China’s foreign policy, it has not been a subject of serious scholarly research. This chapter examines the manifestations and sources of contemporary Chinese exceptionalism and explains its implications for foreign policy. Chinese exceptionalism is defined by great power reformism, benevolent pacifism, and harmonious inclusionism. While resting on an important factual basis, it is constructed by mixing facts with myths through selective use of China’s vast historical and cultural experiences. Exceptionalism does not determine policy, but by being an essential part of the worldview of the Chinese government and many intellectuals, it can become an important source for policy ideas. It can also be viewed as a normative theory for China’s foreign policy, as one among six major schools competing for ideational influence in China’s foreign policy formation.

This chapter looks at three case studies of the Bank of Japan's (BOJ) monetary policy to illustrate how these policy ideas influenced BOJ decision making: the decision to implement and then lift the zero interest rate policy (ZIRP) (1998–2000); the first quantitative easing (QE) policy (2001–6); and the policies implemented in response to the global financial crisis and then Japan's “3–11” triple disaster—the massive earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear meltdown that occurred on March 11, 2011. During these fifteen years, the BOJ's worldview made it slow to tackle deflation head-on and cautious in its reflationary measures. The BOJ Policy Board at various times did concede to outside pressure to use unorthodox monetary measures such as forward guidance or QE. It did so reluctantly, however. When afforded room to maneuver, the Policy Board was ready to retreat quickly from monetary easing, in some cases even before the economy was fully out of deflation.

This chapter looks at a range of policy responses to the need for affordable housing. It examines the innovations in the forms of ‘intermediate sector’ provision and in the planning and supply systems. The chapter concludes with a section on several policy ideas that are related to affordability.

This chapter discusses legislative changes and public policy ideas affecting plan distribution, and is divided into two main section sets. The first set presents and examines recent legislative and regulatory requirement changes affecting plan distribution. In particular, it explains the changing rules for lump-sum calculations for distributions from pension plans, joint-and-survivor annuities, fiduciary obligations on sponsors of plans with annuities, and minimum distribution requirements affecting life annuities. The second and final set of sections, on the other hand, outlines a variety of public policy ideas in this area, and evaluates their pros and cons.