What is the policy-making process? What information do we need to evaluate the economic impact of a particular agricultural policy? What factors are involved in formulating effective agricultural policies? Agricultural policy courses confront students with these and other questions. Students sometimes have the mistaken impression that policies just happen, and they give little thought to the policy~making process and how it functions. Policy formation can best be described as problem solving; policies are formulated so that they appeal to a sufficient number of involved parties to implement the policy (Eauer, pp. 2-3). Thus, understanding the environment and operation of the political process is an essential part of understanding the nature of public decisions.