Updating Microcomputers and Public Policy Analysis

Extract

The purpose of this brief review is to update the article entitled “Microcomputers and Public Policy Analysis” which appeared in the summer/fall 1985 special symposium issue of the Public Productivity Review on “Microcomputer Applications to Productivity Improvements.”

A lot happened in the three years since early 1985 (when the original article was drafted) and early 1988 (when the current updating review was drafted). The main idea that the 1985 article reported was the development of pioneering software. The logical next step was the inclusion of such software as part of the textbook literature of public administration, business administration, policy analysis, political science, and related fields.

This updating review thus mainly reports the availability of recent textbooks which provide a microcomputer interface regarding the five fields which were emphasized in the original article. Those five software fields most relevant to public productivity are multi-criteria decision making, management science/operations research, statistical analysis, information systems, and computer-assisted instruction.