There are several meanings of public policy. Here we will explore the couple simple definition of public policy but be remembered that capturing the nature and scope of public policy in a sentence or two is extremely difficult. Some of the more widely accepted (or at least frequently repeated) descriptions or definitions include:
"The authoritative allocation of values for a society."
"The process of deciding who gets what, when, where and how."
or more simply, "What the government chooses to do or not to do about a specific problem.