IntroductionShould governments regulate financial markets more closely? Can investment on waste-based bio-gas systems improve farming prospects for animal farmers? How does taxation on light bulbs or subsidies on LED lamps influence the behaviour of consumers’ energy usage habits? Does imposing fines on recycling companies in a developing country prevent them from hiring children and using dangerous chemicals when they are recycling electronic appliances? These questions all address policy problems—exploring the long-term effect of strategic decisions on the operational behaviour of individuals and on the global outcomes of a complex social system, such as a national economy.Policies are rules or instruments that guide actions and decision-making by people in order to achieve certain desired outcomes in socio-technical systems. The design of effective policies is a cyclic process of identifying the objective, defining alternative policies, selecting those that best address the objectiv ...