How policymakers can put general prosperity into practice

Characteristics of policy-making based on general prosperity

Whereas, a few years ago, many government organisations were still in an uncertain orientation phase in terms of general prosperity, some serious work is now being carried out to explore that area. There are also forerunners within the government who already know how to shape the approach. This is often a matter trial and error, Vonk Noordegraaf says from experience. “Indeed, forming policy based on overall general prosperity requires an approach that tends to be quite different from the usual way of working within government.”

Conflicting interests

“Something that complicates matters is the fact that the focus on overall general prosperity often involves conflicting interests,” adds Caroline Schipper, Senior Consultant at TNO Vector. As a spatial economist, her work centres on the effects of mobility and energy transition policies on general prosperity. “Take cavity wall insultation in houses,” she cites as an example. “This is a key measure to saving energy and reduce carbon emissions. But you can’t insulate just like that if there are bats in those cavity walls. Investigating whether or not there are bats is a legal requirement and takes time. Time you might not actually have, because home insulation is an urgent measure to make homes more energy-efficient as soon as possible and meet climate targets. So, it’s not always possible to come up with a win-win solution.”

Prioritising

“Anyone who gets serious about general prosperity will soon find that not everything is always possible in every case right away,” she continues. “Electricity grid capacity is scarce, leading to grid congestion in many places in the Netherlands. And that problem requires prioritisation: which should you connect to the grid first: a school or a hospital? These are

difficult choices – ones you need to weigh up all the factors for. And you can only do that you can only if you have a good grounding of what specific policies mean for the different groups of people affected by them and what the consequences are for the spatial layout of an area, i.e. the distributional effects.”

Making choices

To further complicate matters, governments also have to pursue multiple societal goals at the same time. They need to be constantly working to ensure that the solution to one problem can also help to tackle other issues where possible, or at the very least does not complicate matters. “That’s why it’s important to systematically set out the consequences of the various choices and back them up with an objective analysis,” Schipper points out. “In doing so, focusing on general prosperity provides the conceptual and analysis framework you need for this. This will create a sound basis for wider public discussion. It also helps to clarify the choices you need to make in a transparent manner. And that is exactly what is so badly needed at the moment. Given the array of societal challenges and major transitions at play in the Netherlands, governments must have the courage to make clear choices that will help drive the changes needed.”

Values, space and governance

General prosperity is therefore about exploring the challenge with a wide perspective and determining together what is of value to whom and at what point. Schipper: “At TNO Vector, we try to provide insight into what certain policies mean for specific groups. This is not only about the economic impact of measures, but also what the picture looks like when you consider the impact in terms of values, space and governance. If those three elements are put at the heart of discussions, you’ll come up with workable courses of actions faster.”

General prosperity: practical tips for policymakers

1. Get complexity under control

Exactly what values are at stake in dealing with a particular challenge? To what extent are the benefits and burdens shared fairly? What does a decision mean for spatial planning? How do you design the policy process? Are there barriers in how processes are organised? And how do you engage stakeholders? By answering questions like these, you get a better grasp of the complexity behind general prosperity. “It’s essential that you as a government first develop a clear vision,” Schipper points out. “Where do you want to go? What country, province, city or village do you want to be? You will inevitably have to deal with a variety stakeholders and conflicting interests. And that means you will have to incorporate a range of different perspectives into the policy-making and give them a certain weight based

on the societal debate. And yes, that does make it complex on the one hand, but it is also enriching because it allows you to make informed decisions based on all the relevant information.”

2. From problem to action: three key points

“A policy decision can never be separated from its context. That means that approaches to general prosperity are always tailor-made,” adds Vonk Noordegraaf. “But to provide some guidance, we at TNO Vector have determined three focal points:

1. Content: First, it’s important to describe the problem and situation as specifically as possible, so you can discuss an issue properly in terms of content.

2. Process: You need to pay attention to the process side: who is involved in an issue and at what point? How are things coordinated? And who is in charge of what decision? That broad involvement of parties and the interaction that goes with it helps to forge different lines of reasoning and potential solutions.

3. Management: Finally, policymakers need to think about how they want to shape their approach to general prosperity. What do they see as their role and responsibility? Are they taking the lead themselves? And how much room is there for co-creation with others? The main challenge for policymakers is to take the different points of view into consideration and transparently derive concrete actions, in other words: management. This management always needs to be consistent with the principles of general prosperity.”

3. Learning approach works better

Theory is great and all, but how does this all work in practice? Vonk Noordegraaf: “I see some people shying away from the general prosperity approach because they think it will make their work very complicated. If you’ve gathered a lot of information, it can be paralysing. So, my advice to governments is to start simple and scale the approach as the challenge grows. It’s a fallacy to think you can sit down with every possible stakeholder. At the same time, it can be tempting to start working on a specific action right away. But even if you already have ideas about what’s important, do seek out new information and you might be surprised. A learning approach where you move forward step by step usually works better.”

4. Impact analysis helps with decision-making

“At TNO, there are several ways we can help government organisations to take general prosperity efforts to the next level,” she continued. “To start with, we can help governments reflect on and understand where they stand

right now and how much progress they are making on societal challenges. Reflexive monitoring, as we call it. The emphasis here is not accountability for the path they chose before, but rather to support governments in conducting experiments, and then learning from what went well and where a different approach would have been better on reflection. We have the expertise to perform system analyses and identify the expected societal impacts of the policy decisions they intend to make.”