SPEA V185 Exam 2
How does the garbage can model of decision-making posit that decision-makers approach problem solving?
- Decision makers are as likely to start decision making from the solution side as the problem side o "If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail" mentality to problem solving o Create decision-making opportunities that they can solve with ready-made solutions based on their competencies and skills o People push for competing solutions, based on their perceptions of the nature of the problem and the attractiveness of their solutions to those problems o Selection of an alternative depends on which persons or groups definitions of the current situation holds sway
What are the three major causal mechanisms linking diversity/representation to performance? Be able to define each and to identify each from examples.
- 3 Major Causal Mechanisms Linking Diversity to Performance: o Advocacy - Members of under-represented groups serve as advocates for their group members, improving outcomes for these individuals. o Legitimacy - As organizations more closely mirror the populations they serve, they are viewed as more legitimate by those populations. o Learning - Organizations benefit from diversity of experiences and perspectives to be able to learn and adapt to challenges. Client Advocacy and Representative Bureaucracy - Several studies have found that as representation of women or minorities increase in organizations, outcomes for women and minority clients improve. o Loan applications for Black farmers o Black and Hispanic students in gifted and talented programs and in K-12 standardized tests and disciplinary actions o Sexual assault arrests o Federal agencies and contracting with minority owned businesses o Gender pay gap in US Universities - Key mechanism is that bureaucrats in these instances actively use their power/autonomy to advocate for group members. Organizational Legitimacy and Bureaucratic Performance - In addition to advocacy efforts by government officials, representation can also signal to under-represented groups that the agency understands and values their concerns and experiences. o Female test scores in math and female teachers o Black teenage pregnancy rates and Black female teachers o Black motorist perceptions of the legitimacy of traffic stops and tickets and Black officers o Women and reporting of sexual assaults o Veterans and satisfaction with VA services - The mechanism here is that the clients view the organization differently and thus have more positive experiences. Organizational Learning and Representative Bureaucracy - A third way that representation can improve organizational performance is by helping the agency learn and adapt better. o US Federal agencies and goal achievement, perceived performance, and employee commitment o Strategic planning efforts and homelessness programs o Fundraising and board performance of non-profit organizations o Large literature in for-profit business organizations - The diversity of the group allows for more ideas and perspectives to be included in decision-making, and for learning to occur across groups.
What is administrative burden? Be able to define it and give examples.
- Administrative burden: The learning, psychological, and compliance costs that people experience in their interactions with government. o Focused on individual citizens rather than private businesses, nonprofits or interest groups o All programs create some level of burden o Builds on theories of bounded rationality and findings from behavioral economics o These costs are often hidden and are not recognized or considered in analyses of programs o Raise important equity concerns regarding access to government services
What are adverse selection and moral hazard, and how do these relate to the relationship between Congress and the bureaucracy?
- Adverse Selection - When principals (in this case, Legislatures) are unable to effectively differentiate between the quality or competence of people they hire to do some task. o Will sometimes hire "bad" agents who are lazy or incompetent o Unable to directly observe the work that agents do o Difficulty knowing who or what is to blame when things go wrong - Moral Hazard - When one party acts overly risky/irresponsibly because they will not feel the full force of penalties. o Examples: Banking industry and housing crisis of 2008; bad teachers in public schools o Civil service reforms, other protections, and political monopolies can serve to insulate bureaucracies from punishment for poor performance. o Bureaucrats who believe that they likely won't be fired for doing a bad job may take advantage of this for their own personal gain.
What are some of the racial inequities related to COVID-19, and why do these exist? What are strategies that public administrators and governments should use to address these issues?
- African Americans are more likely to contract COVID-19 and to have worse health outcomes when they do become infected o Access to quality insurance o Existing disparities in quality of care o Other health problems that stem from both poverty and discrimination o More vulnerable employment (less likely to be able to work from home, less likely to have access to sick-pay) o Food insecurity and access to healthy foods that results from residential segregation o Housing conditions that make it more difficult to socially distance o Under-representation in government and lack of trust between community and public officials o Voter suppression policies that make it more difficult to participate in the democratic process - Strategies for Responding to Racial Inequity and COVID-19 o Merritt and Wright highlight four strategies that governments should adopt § Collecting and releasing demographic data related to COVID-19 § Engaging nonprofit organizations led by African Americans § Establishing election contingency plans that curtail voter suppression § Reducing digital inequality
What is the politics-administration dichotomy, and how is it related to the progressive movement? What is the primary goal that was associated with public management during this era, and what was the most important quality for public administrators to have?
- After WWII, increasing realization among scholars that it was impossible to separate politics from administration o Importance of normative values in design and management democracy, in reaction to the rise of fascism and WWII o Recognition of limits to human cognition and rationality o Politics as inevitable part of administrative process and vice-versa - Civil rights and women's rights movements during 1960s and 1970s further strengthened these concerns. o Legal and political efforts to end discrimination o LBJ and the "War on Poverty" and "Great Society" programs vastly expanded federal government's role in social welfare - Neutral competence was stressed as the most important quality for public administrators to have. o Politics-Administration Dichotomy o Implement rule of law without bias or favoritism o Provide technical expertise and advice to legislators and policymakers
What is the racial wealth gap? Why does this gap exist today in the US?
- Although the term "racial wealth gap" technically refers to the difference in assets owned by different racial or ethnic groups, this gap results from a range of economic factors that affect the overall economic well-being of these different groups. - The term reflects disparities in access to opportunities, means of support, and resources.
What are punctuated equilibriums, and how is this concept related to incrementalism?
- Change happens incrementally most of the time, but that major change happens when attention of key decision-makers becomes focused on a single issue or problem - This leads to punctuated equilibriums - End result is that the political system often pays too little attention to a problem for a long time, until things reach a breaking point, at which time attention shifts and system becomes disproportionately focused on the issue
What is the decoy effect?
- Decoy effects refer to situations where the selection can be influenced by including a clearly inferior version of one of the choices o Including the clearly inferior option should not influence purely rational actors, as this is not an option that they would ever choose o In reality, however, the inclusion of an inferior version of one alternative makes the better version of the alternative seem more attractive o Also makes it easier for you to justify choosing that option because it is clearly better than the inferior "decoy"
What is institutional racism?
- Despite many efforts to end explicit discrimination over the past 75 years, significant disparities still exist for racial minorities in the United States o Employment o Education o Health o Housing o Criminal Justice o Environment - Institutional racism: "those established laws, customs and practices which systematically reflect and produce racial inequalities in American society...whether or not the individuals maintaining those practices have racist intentions." (Jones 1971, 131)
What is choice blindness?
- Essentially, people incorrectly believe that they fully understand the roots of their emotions and thoughts, yet believe that other people's introspections are largely unreliable.
What is redlining? What are sub-prime mortgages, and how did these increase racial inequities?
- For decades, many banks in the U.S. denied mortgages to people, mostly people of color in urban areas, preventing them from buying a home in certain neighborhoods or getting a loan to renovate their house. - The practice — once backed by the U.S. government — started in the 1930s and took place across the country. That includes in many of the nation's largest cities, such as Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit, Tampa and others with large minority populations. - A subprime mortgage is one that's normally issued to borrowers with low credit ratings. A prime conventional mortgage isn't offered, because the lender views the borrower as having a greater-than-average risk of defaulting on the loan.
What is groupthink? What strategies can managers to use avoid groupthink?
- Groupthink: when group members striving for agreement (norm for unanimity), fail to realistically appraise alternative courses of action o Examples: Bay of Pigs invasion, bombing of pearl harbor, Columbia and Challenger space shuttle disasters, Iraq war - Pressure to conform can create problems where people are uncomfortable sharing dissenting opinions o Desire to remain part of the group is more powerful than making the right decision o Can lead to extreme and unethical decisions and actions
What is bounded rationality, and how does this differ from pure rationality?
- In response to some of the problems with the comprehensively rational model (rational choice), Herbert Simon developed the concept of "bounded" or "intended" rationality o People do not have the capacity to be perfectly rational o Importantly, the ways they fail to be rational are repeatable and predictable rather than random o Instead of pure rationality, people are rational within certain limits (they try to make the best decisions they can, but they often fall short of achieving pure rationality) - Pure rationality o The rational-comprehensive model places significant burdens on decision-makers § Requires them to have complete information and the capacity to process this information in a timely manner § Also requires people to accurately place all possible outcomes on a single value dimension (a utility curve) § Assumes that preferences are not influenced by changes in the ordering or selection of the option under consideration § Assumes that people are most concerned with maximizing grain, rather than minimizing loss o How accurate are these assumptions for most decision-maker in real world scenarios?
What was New Public Administration, and how does this compare to the idea of neutral competence?
- Increasing shift away from neutral competence and towards public administrators as advocates for client populations. o Recognition that government employees can often exercise considerable discretion to either help or hinder people they serve o Equity as a basis for legitimate administration, alongside efficiency and effectiveness o New Public Administration movement in 1960s argued that administrators should be active participants in promoting social justice o ASPA code of ethics explicitly states that administrators should promote social equity
What is incrementalism? What are the advantages and disadvantages of this approach to decision-making?
- Incrementalism: policymaking characterized by a series of decisions, each instituting modest change o Both an empirical argument about how the world really works, and an normative argument about the best ways to make decisions o Lots of evidence that budgets tend to be largely incremental; less work in looking at other kinds of decisions o Less risk, at least in most cases o Consistent with principles of bounded rationality o Politically expedient
What are serial processing and parallel processing? Which can individuals do, and how does this relate to decision-making in organizations?
- Limits on attention restrict the number of issues or problems that decision-makers can attend to at any given time o Parallel processing = dealing with several decisions (problems) simultaneously o Serial processing: dealing with problems/ decisions one at a time o At individual level, humans can only engage in serial processing (despite our continued efforts to multitask) o Organizations and institutions can be designed to enable parallel processing, but this is limited because ultimately some key decision-maker will have to address the problem, and that decision-maker will be constrained to serial-processing of information o Because they can only attend to one task at a time, decision-makers will tend to completely ignore some problems in order to focus their attention on the problems they feel are most important
How are administrative burdens distributed in the US? Who is most impacted by these burdens? Why?
- Many programs aimed at helping the poor are not accessed by all who qualify o 40-60% for Supplemental Social Insurance o 65% for SNAP o 50-70% for Medicaid o 42-52% for TANF o 30-60% for Unemployment Insurance - Burdens reinforce inequalities. Those without resources are the most disadvantaged (those who often need the help the most) are typically most severely impacted. - Burdens also become additive. Those who need one form of government assistance often end up needing others as well o People receiving SNAP or income assistance are less likely to have access driver's licenses or other IDs that are often required to vote. o Low-income neighborhoods often have fewer polling places per capita, and people living in these areas are less likely to have transportation or be able to take time off from work to vote. o Recipients of unemployment insurance are more likely to also need Medicaid. o Poor women are more likely to have unplanned pregnancies and need access to abortion. o Low-income students who apply to college are more likely to need federal aid and additional sources of student aid.
What is prospect theory and loss aversion?
- Models built on assumptions of rational behavior assumes that actors make decisions based on maximizing wealth or utility - In reality, however, people approach outcomes relative to some reference point (or current state) - Most importantly, people respond differently to perceived losses than to perceived gains o Losses are often weighted between 2 and 3 times as heavily as logically equivalent gains o Losing $10 hurts about as much as winning $20-30 - Prospect theory assumes that losses and gains are valued differently, and thus individuals make decisions based on perceived gains instead of perceived losses. Also known as the "loss-aversion" theory, the general concept is that if two choices are put before an individual, both equal, with one presented in terms of potential gains and the other in terms of possible losses, the former option will be chosen.
What is prospect theory, and how does this relate to loss aversion?
- One way that this differential reaction to losses versus gains impacts decision-making is with respect to decisions about risk o Because losses hurt more than gains feel good, people are generally risk-averse o If a decision can be framed in such a way as to be thought of as avoiding a loss, however, people will become much more tolerant of risk and willing to take chances o This means that logically equivalent decisions are treated differently depending on how the decision is framed
What does it mean to say that administrative burdens are constructed? Give an example of a situation where administrative burdens were created to further a political agenda.
- Political actors can use burdens as an alternative way to reduce access to services that they believe government should not provide o TANF and beliefs about welfare o Requirements for legal immigration o Political lobbying around efforts to simplify income taxes o Medicaid expansion and Obamacare o COVID-19 and unemployment insurance o Voter ID laws - While these efforts are usually defended as part of a legitimate effort to prevent fraud or abuse, they are often employed to accomplish some political goal that would not otherwise be possible to enact via legislation.
What is the principal-agent dilemma? What is agency loss?
- Principal-Agent Dilemma - Principals (electoral institutions) hire an agent (bureaucracy) to accomplish some task but are unable to completely monitor the agent's behavior. Agents are able to exploit this lack of oversight and control to "shirk" responsibilities. o Examples: Doctor, car mechanic, lawyers, construction crews o Agency loss is what happens when the agents exploit this lack of monitoring to pursue their own interests at the expense of the principal.
What is the theory of representative bureaucracy?
- Principal-agent models assume that principals and agents will have different goals. What if principals and agents have the same goals? - How can we build bureaucracies that promote the values and preferences of society on their own, without the need for extensive external oversight? o Organizational culture: use managerial practices and structural incentives to re-enforce "public" values within the organization. o Human resource practices: Attempt to hire a demographically and ideologically representative workforce (Representative Bureaucracy) - Representative bureaucracy is a theory that claims public sector performance is directly related to fit between demographic characteristics in the community/society as a whole and the people who work in a given government agency. o Improved fit = improved performance o Research has mostly focused on race, ethnicity and gender o Less work on income, religion and sexual orientation
What is the difference between prospect and means based approaches to equality of opportunity? What is the difference between lot and person-regarding equality?
- Prospect - Two people have the same probability of receiving an outcome o I randomly selected groups last time using random.org o Draft lotteries randomly select people to serve in the military - Means - Two people have the same probability of receiving an outcome assuming that they have the same qualifications o Everybody in this class is graded the same way, even though some may have been better prepared in high-school than others o Legitimate inequality based on differences in merit, talent, or skills
What is the difference between the "police patrol" versus the "fire alarm" approach to Congressional oversight? What are the advantages and disadvantages of using the "fire alarm" approach?
- Some have argued that Congress can adopt oversight strategies that are less costly, in terms of time or effort. o Wait for somebody to complain about a problem, otherwise assume that the bureaucracy is doing what it is supposed to be doing. o This is the "fire alarm" approach to oversight, as opposed to the "police patrol" approach that we have talked about so far. Advantages and Disadvantages of "Fire Alarms" È Is much less costly than "police patrol" approach È Allows Congress to take the credit for responding to problems and concerns that people have raised, without wasting time on issues that may not be important to constituents — Assumes that people will have the ability to recognize problems and to sound the alarm, and that all groups will be able to do this equally well — Assumes that there won't be a lot of false alarms - What are executive orders, and how have presidents used these in the past to influence policy? - What is an iron triangle? What is agency capture? - Be familiar with the case study on administrative enforcement of speeding laws. What does the case say about the reasons for bureaucratic discretion in enforcing laws, and what are potential downsides associated with this use of discretion?
What strategies can be used to reduce administrative burden?
- Technology can help reduce burdens by making it easier for people to get information and to provide documentation o Can publish information on programs and eligibility requirements online and then email/text people with link to site o Ability to fill out forms and submit materials online rather than hand deliver them to a physical location o Apps on your computer or smartphone that allow you to take a picture of a document rather than finding a working fax machine o Use of videoconferencing programs can reduce the need for in-person visits and appointments o Important to retain autonomy for workers and ensure that it is user-friendly for people not experienced with the system - One way to reduce the burdens that citizens confront is to have government take on more of these costs o Outreach efforts to increase awareness of policies and programs o Design processes that reduce wait-times o Have case-workers meet with recipients at home or at work o Merge and combine already existing administrative data sources to better communicate and share information o Auto-enroll people who are eligible
What were the Asch conformity experiments, and what were the major findings from this research?
- The Asch conformity experiments were a series of psychological experiments conducted by Solomon Asch during the 1950s. - The experiments revealed the degree to which a person's own opinions are influenced by those of groups. - Asch found that people were willing to ignore reality and give an incorrect answer in order to conform to the rest of the group.
What is the anchoring effect?
- The anchoring effect is a cognitive bias that describes the common human tendency to rely too heavily on the first piece of information offered
How do "bottom-up" approaches seek to achieve accountability? How does this compare and contrast with "top-down" methods of accountability?
- Thus far in class, we have mostly talked about top-down mechanisms for ensuring bureaucratic performance, accountability, and democratic responsiveness - Another mechanism for achieving these goals is through bottom-up approaches. o Emphasis on providing "street-level" bureaucrats with necessary authority and discretion to act o Also stresses role of education, socialization, training, etc... of these street level agents o Idea is to strengthen "inner-checks," by creating a bureaucracy staffed with people who have strong ethics/morals and who are responsive to needs and demands of clients/citizens - Debate is about whether formal/legalistic controls can work, or whether such efforts are more likely to create perverse incentives or unintended consequences than they are to improve policy implementation.
What are System 1 and System 2 modes of decision-making? Which system is used most of the time?
- Two Modes of Thinking o System 1- fast, unconscious, automatic, everyday decisions, error prone o System 2- slow, conscious, effortful, complex decisions, reliable - The Dominance of System 1 in Decision-Making o Because system 2 is who we typically think we are, we often assume that it is the one in charge most of the time o In reality, however, the vast majority of decisions that we make are done via system 1, often without us even realizing that this has happened § System 2 is simply too slow and resource intensive for us to employ it all the time § Most of the time, system 1 reacts in the way that we would want it to o In some situations, however, system 1 makes mistakes § Intuition can be misleading § Emotions can bias us and ultimately cause us to make decisions that work against our best interests § System 2 is often not even aware that system 1 has made a mistake, and so we make these errors repeatedly without even realizing it or devising strategies to avoid them
When will Congress tend to delegate, and when will it tend to more aggressively take control or monitor?
- Under divided government, Congress views the bureaucracy as ideologically closer to the President than itself and less likely to delegate. - If policy is very complex/technical and/or there is great uncertainty about how a policy will work, Congress is more likely to delegate, because they don't have the expertise and don't want to get blamed if things go bad. - If policies bestow benefits to constituents (i.e. tax credits, earmarks, etc...); Congress is less likely to delegate. - When there has been some type of crisis/disaster; or when the agency is doing something to harm important constituent groups and people want action, Congress is more likely to take an aggressive role
What is overhead democracy? What would have to be true about the American political system for this to be accurate? To what extent does it appear the conditions are met in the United States?
- What would have to be true about the American political system for this to be accurate? o People would have to hold Congress and the President accountable for adopting undesirable policies, or not addressing major issues. § Know what's going on § Get involved and participate (vote, write letters, etc...) o Congress would have to hold the bureaucracy accountable for effective implementation. § Know what it is that the bureaucracy is actually doing § Have detailed knowledge of how policy should be implemented
What is confirmation bias? Be ready to give a definition of these, and to identify examples of each.
- the tendency to search for, interpret, favor, and recall information in a way that confirms or supports one's prior beliefs or values. People display this bias when they select information that supports their views, ignoring contrary information, or when they interpret ambiguous evidence as supporting their existing attitudes - In addition to yearning for meaning and coherence, we are also very uncomfortable changing our minds or opinions o Emotionally difficult o If we changed our minds very frequently, that would be mentally taxing and stressful - Confirmation bias refers to the phenomenon wherein people not only seek out information that supports their existing opinion, but they also tend to ignore or discount information that challenges their beliefs o Sports fans and referees o Political issues such as climate change, the economy, and even the current situation with coronavirus
What are the three types of costs that administrative burdens pose for individuals? Be able to identify examples of each.
Three Kinds of Costs Posed Administrative Burdens - Learning costs o Time and effort to learn about the program or service o Eligibility status o The nature of benefits o Conditions that must be satisfied o How to gain access Three Kinds of Costs Posed Administrative Burdens - Compliance costs o Provision of information and documentation to demonstrate standing o Financial costs to access services (such as fees, legal representation, travel costs) o Avoiding or responding to discretionary demands made by administrators Three Kinds of Costs Posed Administrative Burdens - Psychological Costs o Stigma arising from applying for and participating in an unpopular program o Loss of autonomy that comes from intrusive administrative supervision o Frustration at dealing with learning and compliance costs, unjust or unnecessary procedures o Stresses that arise from uncertainty about whether a citizen can negate processes and compliance costs
What does it mean to be a rational actor? Be familiar with each of the criteria used to define rationality in the technical sense of the term.
o You are able to rank-order your preferences, based on the expected utility of each option o These rank-ordered preferences are stable and transitive o You analyze all the possible alternatives and know which alternatives will work the best (you have perfect information) o You select the alternative that maximizes your utility
