THE LIMITS OF SOCIAL-LEARNING - TRANSLATING ANALYSIS INTO ACTION

In what respects does public-policy making reflect social learning, dr awing lessons from previous experiences and from the experiences of go vernments in other settings? Starting with an examination of the effec t of policy legacies on current policy making, I present a process mod el of social learning embedded within the larger policy-making process resting at the intersection of the nation's constitutional context, t echnological change, and political influences exogenous to social lear ning. The model first distinguishes between the structural and the soc ial learning effects of policy legacies. I then conceptually divide so cial learning into separate streams of substantive learning and situat ional learning. The effect that each of these has on policy making dep ends on the relative position of three categories of participants in t he policy-making process (experts, organized interests, and politician s), as well as on the scope of the policy issue being considered (rang ing from routine change to major reform). This analysis, with referenc e to recent health care policy making, reveals the full extent to whic h social learning is often a decidedly political struggle over ideas a nd information in which advocates promote lessons that serve their spe cific interests within a given institutional context and political set ting. I consider the implications of social learning for understanding likely policy responses to the rise of market forces in health care.