Tools for Institutional, Political, and Social Analysis of Policy Reform

Poverty and Social Impact Analysis (PSIA) refers to the analysis of the distributional
impact of policy reforms1 on the well-being or welfare of different stakeholder
groups, with particular focus on the poor and vulnerable. This Sourcebook
introduces a framework as well as tools for institutional, political, and social
analysis (TIPS) in PSIA. It is intended primarily for practitioners who undertake
policy analysis in developing countries. The Sourcebook provides illustrative guidance
on a range of tools and their application; it does not seek to prescribe it to
this audience.
This Sourcebook is part of a growing and collaborative response by international
agencies and national partners to encourage and provide more systematic poverty
and social impact analysis; to build in-country capacity; and to shift the balance of
PSIA experience from donors toward national stakeholders. More specifically, it is
designed to fill a perceived gap in guidance on institutional, political, and social
analyses and to complement the guidance provided in the World Bank’s User’s Guide
to PSIA (2003), which advocates a multidisciplinary approach to PSIA and presents
both economic and social tools and methods, along with the World Bank’s Economic
Toolkit (Bourguignon and da Silva 2003). The Sourcebook also complements the
reform-by-reform notes on economic analysis in PSIA, produced by the World
Bank.