Presentación

The CSIC Institute of Public Goods and Policies (IPP) continue and advance the research project of former Advanced Social Studies Institute (IESA) (1987-1999) and CSIC Comparative Politics and Policy Unit (1999-2007).

The mission of the Institute is to advance knowledge in a specific domain of the relationship between the society, the market and the state.

The objective will be to go deeply into the comparative analysis and understanding of the nature of a singular type of goods, public and collective goods, as well as the processes of definition and implementation of public policies and their mutual interactions. It is a major goal of the Institute to produce knowledge that can be used and evaluated by the scientific community, as well as knowledge relevant for social actors, institutions and governments.

Society and economy require the production and provision of public goods. Nevertheless, if this is left to spontaneous and decentralised individual decisions, the likely outcome will be a socially sub-optimal production of those goods.

Thus there is a need for societies to provide themselves with the political institutions and social networks that allow the overcoming of collective action problems that often arise in the provision of public goods.

The analysis of public policies and goods, as well as their management trough collective action, social networks and public policies, are a fundamental part of the problems that define the central domain of the Institute's research. The right approach to address those issues requires the coordination of different branches of the social sciences: economics, political science and sociology.

The Institute is focused on the interaction between public goods and policies, and this will contribute to overcome the traditional divide between Institutes of economics studying public goods on the one hand, and Institutes of public policies on the other.

The Institute for public goods and policies will focus its efforts in various research lines:

• Research and Innovation systems and policies. The debate about the public good nature of knowledge and the problems associated to its appropiability, as well as the existence or absence of markets, are central issues which understanding may contribute to the definition of adequate R&D policies. The objective is to achieve a better and deeper understanding of the role played by science, technology and innovation in modern economies and societies, by developing our capabilities to map and measure -codified and tacit or embodied scientific and technological knowledge, as well as to contribute to the construction of a “science of science policy”. Issues to be address are, among others, the transformation of research organisations and institutions as regards the processes of innovation, production, diffusion and transfer of knowledge, as well as the social and political impact of new technologies; all are issues associated to the emergence of new public goods and collective arenas; researchers' labour markets and professional careers and analysis and evaluation of science, technology and higher education policies, and in broad terms relationships between science and governments
• Environmental Economics. The study of the public good component of natural resources and the environment is one of the most dynamic fields of economics in recent years. Forests, renewable energies, or water are providers of highly important public goods, and it is fundamental to produce the scientific knowledge needed for their correct valuation and further management through adequate and effective public policies
• Citizens, institutions and policies in comparative perspective. Comparative politics have traditionally paid attention to the analysis of politics, citizens, institutions and policies. New pressures require quick updates in socially available scientific knowledge on them. Citizens have growing ability to participate in public life, whilst, at the same time there is a parallel evidence of disconnection and even dissatisfaction with traditional mechanism of political participation. Issues of accessibility, accountability and transparency dominate the agenda of the relationship between citizens and elites. Then, a changing international environment, new citizens demands and process of devolution and transference of competences to the supranational level pose new challenges which states tackle through the creation and redesign of institutions. Finally, globalization, migration and other socio-demographic changes, pose a major challenge for contemporary democracies that affects primarily the definition of Western polities as Welfare States and Social policies.