An irony of history or the exception as the rule - The implementation by Swedish municipalities of an economic housing policy instrument

Perverse effects and ironies should be at the center of attention in academ ic public policy analysis. A 'perverse effect' is not any inadvertent resul t produced by a public measure but a result, inside or outside the target a rea, that is entirely opposite to the result intended. An 'irony', as defin ed here, is different from a perverse effect in that it designates any unin tended and unexpected result whose causes are unknown or left without comme nt. The pronouncement 'this is an irony' means 'this is an unexpected resul t'; the statement 'this is a perverse effect' means 'this is an unexpected, diametrically opposite result at least partly produced by the intervention ' (Vedung 1998a. Utvardering i politik och forvaltning. Lund: Studentlitter atur, p. 62). The article deals with the ironic result of an economic policy instrument i n Swedish national housing land policy, the Land Stipulation Requisite for State Housing Loans 1974-91. The purpose of the requisite was that the pert inent municipality (not a private landowner) must have allocated to the bui lding commissioner the land for his planned residential development if he w as to be granted state housing loans. The policy makers expected that the share of the total housing production t aking place on land supplied by municipalities would increase. Yet between 1972 and 1990 the housing pro duction on land supplied by municipal authori ties decreased. This puzzling gap, referred to as the 'enigmatic irony' of the Land Stipulation Requisite, is explained. The explanation is phrased in the terminology of a general theory of public intervention results. The ex planation may be summarized as 'exception as the rule'.