The key to conceptualization is to try to sum up the basic strategic thrust
of an alternative in a simple sentence or even a phrase. This is diff~culbt ut usually
worth the effort. It usually helps to use very la in, short phrases stripped of
jargon. When the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was created, the-first
administrator confronted (a partial list 00 alternatives that might have been
described thus: "Let the states do the work; let the feds give them the money";
"Remove impediments to firms cooperating on antipollution research"; and "Sue
the bastards" (meaning the large, visible polluting firms and industries, the prosecution
of which would help build political support for the new agency).
The key to simplification is to distinguish between a basic alternative and
its variants. The basic element in many policy alternatives is an intervention
strategy, such as regulatory enforcement or a subsidy or a tax incentive, that
causes people or institutions to change their conduct in some way.' But no
intervention strategy can stand alone; it must be implemented by some agency
or constellation of agencies (perhaps including nonprofit organizations), and it
must have a source of financing. Usually the variants on the basic strategy are
defined by different methods of implementation and different methods of financing.
The distinction between a basic strategy and variants based on implementation
details is especially helpful when you have a lot of possible solutions to consider
and you need to reduce the complexity involved in comparing them.