An Offer You Can’t Refuse : Interactions of Policy Instruments and Individual Behavior

In order to solve public problems, many policy solutions have to produce a change in the behavior of the individuals involved. Scholarly research has mainly investigated the causal power of policy instruments individually, while few studies address how interactions of different types of policy instruments can causally affect individual behavior. My argument is that particular combinations of positive and negative inducements put in motion mechanisms that manage to produce desirable behaviors, by narrowing the possible choices of the policy takers. In order to test whether the interaction effect takes place, I will classify the policy mixes adopted by four Italian regions to reduce environmental pollution in the period 2001-2005. Qualitative comparative analysis will be used to identify which combinations of policy instruments are more effective in inducing environmental-friendly behaviors.