The persistence and predictability of policy tool use: Policy styles and the tools of government

Abstract The relationship between “policy tools” and “policy styles” in literature is often implicit, resting on the assumption that governments’ characteristic ways of doing business shape their tool choices, without clarifying what a “style” is or how it connects to those choices. Resolving this ambiguity requires distinguishing two conceptions of policy style: a process-oriented one, describing how governments make decisions, and an output-oriented one, describing what kinds of instruments they characteristically deploy. Building on this distinction, the article introduces a three-level typology comprising a tool’s “genre,” “variation,” and “calibration” to specify at which level of abstraction a policy style exerts its influence on tool choice. Governance modes generate durable preferences primarily at the genre level – for broad categories such as regulation, public enterprises, or treasury-based instruments – rather than for specific design variations or finer calibrations. Making these linkages explicit advances understanding of policy continuity and improves prediction of future instrument choices.