Research exploring the interface between governance and sustainable development strongly emphasises the significance of the complexity and uncertainty involved in contemporary policy issues such as climate change. While there is significant interest in the suitability of different governance processes and policy mechanisms for achieving a transition to a low carbon economy, current research leaves open the question of how to evaluate the outcomes achieved by different governance approaches. The ‘post-positivist’ turn in some recent political research involves recognition of the plurality of different perspectives through which actual and potential policies might be evaluated. This paper proposes and applies an analytical approach to evaluating governance and policy which is similarly post-positivist and draws from ‘heterodox’ traditions in political economy, notably Austrian and ecological economics. The analytical focus is on how different actors involved in the political sphere understand and address often complex, ‘economic’ dimensions of choice. ‘Economic’ here is understood in a broad sense which draws from a plurality of criteria, including non-monetary values. The approach is applied to understanding the challenges for the political sphere of designing policy for sustainable housing in England, an issue which involves complex economic, as well as technical-scientific, dimensions. The study compares stakeholder framings of the issue, with a detailed focus on comparing stakeholders framings of the economic dimensions involved. Insights are gained into the epistemological challenges which arise for political actors in the face of complexity and the potential for further developing this inter-disciplinary approach to analysing policy change.
