Balance in Public Policy

Balance can be urged for two reasons. First, the fact that society has conflicting goals should encourage policies that achieve each of these to some extent. Second, the fact that policies often have undesirable side-effects also should motivate a search for balance in policy formation so that one goal is not achieved by completely ignoring others.

The best policy is rarely an extreme but is rather a mixture of different approaches that achieves the best balance of different means and/or ends. Yet public policy debates are often dominated by extreme viewpoints: international trade is viewed as entirely good or entirely bad, regulations are viewed as entirely good or entirely bad, either personal or social responsibility is urged, and environmental debates are dominated by those who urge no controls whatsoever and those who urge no pollution whatsoever. Human progress requires that we transcend such oversimplifications. Yet voters must be wary of politicians who will use the search for balance as an excuse for inaction.