The second line of research, PUBLIC POLICY, brings together investigations on the State and government, including analyses of bureaucracy, decision-making processes, the dynamics within the State, and social policies, encompassing research projects focused on the multiple dimensions of inequality (in particular, overlapping dimensions of deprivation). It also examines how different public policies (education, health, social assistance, political participation, urban policies and violence) affect inequality, and this includes the preferences of citizens, politicians and governments regarding institutional design and strategies for implementing policies. Featured within the research line are the sub-projects developed in collaboration with the Center for Metropolitan Studies (CEM) (https://centrodametropole.fflch.usp.br/ en ), each headed by a senior researcher and composed of multidisciplinary teams of junior researchers.
Another project examines the nature and extent of the changes that have taken place in the academic profession in recent years, their causes and their consequences. The implications of these changes for the attractiveness of academic activity as a career, and the capacity of the academic community to contribute to the development of the knowledge society and to achieve countries' economic, social and cultural development goals are studied. The project is developed in the context of national and international cooperation with various institutions and at USP is headquartered at the Public Policy Research Nucleus (NUPPS) in collaboration with the graduate program (https://nupps.usp.br/).
A highlight of public policy research is its comparative approach, highlighting how the characteristics of the design and implementation of public policies in Brazil appear in light of experiences in other countries. This strong presence of the comparative method in projects on public policies is evident in the insertion of the projects developed here in research networks with international partners.
Another highlight of the projects developed here are investments in new models of explanation and data analysis techniques. Recent studies using analysis of social networks have brought advances to the understanding of the internal processes of the State, illuminating the relations between the State and its immediate political environment, especially with the political class and private companies. This set of results shows the importance of networks in the functioning of public policies, as well as the effects of their actions on relational patterns in society. In combination with this emphasis on network models, public policy projects provide training in the use of network analysis techniques and software.
The line of research on PUBLIC POLICY has six researchers: Elizabeth Balbachevsky, Eduardo Marques, Jonathan Phillips, Lorena Barberia, Marta Arretche, Renata Bichir
