The four dimensions of policy tools are: Directness, Automaticity, Coerciveness, and Visibility.

• Direct tools are those in which the authorization, funding, and implementation are carried out by the same entity.
• Policy tools that are automatic are those that use existing administrative structures to produce an effect as opposed to creating a new structure to implement the tool.
• Coerciveness refers to the extent to which a tool restricts behavior.
• Visibility pertains to whether resources devoted to a tool show are captured in a government’s budgeting and policy review process.

Salamon, L.M. (2002). The tools of government: A guide to the new governance. Oxford: Oxford University Press