Government policy is the legal and regulatory measures, courses of action, and funding priorities that a government adopts and implements to tackle important issues like advancing economic growth, ensuring access to high-quality health care and education, and limiting climate change. These policies are shaped by political ideologies and aim to achieve specific goals that affect many aspects of people’s lives.
Government policies take on a variety of forms including regulations, subsidies, and taxes. Some direct government actions use money to directly influence behaviors, such as levying taxes (Taxes) or subsidizing an alternative behavior (Subsidize). Other direct actions are more indirect, and use the authority of a government to make certain behaviours obligatory or illegal by making them against the law (Oblige and Prohibit).
The policymaking process starts when people in a community recognize that there is a problem. They then generate ideas on how to address the issue. Once they have agreed on a course of action, they try to persuade government to adopt the plan and put it into action. This involves collecting and analyzing data, evaluating consequences of different courses of action, and gathering support for one proposal or another. Policy makers must also consider the costs and benefits of each option, and decide how to fund it.