A growing collection of mental models for thinking about policy, drawn from books, papers, and 300+ editions of Anticipating the Unintended. Frameworks-based thinking helps make sense of complex policy problems and what can be done about them.

Curated and explained by Pranay Kotasthane.

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Describe the policy problem you’re thinking about and get the most relevant frameworks.

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Three frameworks that show the range of what’s on this site — analysis, evaluation, politics.

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Public Policy
Frameworks for defining policy problems, analysing failures, and matching tools to objectives.

Political Thinking
How political coalitions form, narratives travel, and ideas become acceptable.

Public Finance
State functions, debt sustainability, taxation, and fiscal federalism.

Foreign Policy & Geopolitics
State behaviour, deterrence, world orders, and India’s strategic choices.

Society
Social norms, networked societies, ideology, and information ecosystems.

Universe
Modelling, trade-offs, and frameworks that cut across domains.