The Public Policy Four-Way Test
A guide for ethical and productive public policy
From my days as a young man occasionally attending meetings of my father’s Rotary Club, I have been fond of the organization’s Four-Way Test. It is a simple, straightforward guide for ethical behavior. Something much in line with the theory that good rules can and should be simple.
It is not perfect at least not in the sense that it gives us all the answers or that it makes decisions easy. In fact like most ethical guideposts it likely presents challenges. The hedonist and the self-centered have it much easier. Nevertheless, it is highly useful.
In that spirit I would like to propose a four-way test for public policy.
Is it in good faith?
Is it constructive towards reasonable solutions?
Is there a reasonable expectation that it will work beneficially to the problem it attempts to address?
Is there a reasonable expectation it will avoid negative unintended consequences that outweigh any direct benefits?
To be sure these questions could not be quickly or easily answered for all but the most trivial or terrible of proposed solutions. Yet working through them or better yet being grounded in them from the start should lead to much better public policy. It would also be a good approach to challenging proposed solutions provided those challenges were at the least themselves following the first rule of the test.