Public Policy Final

Policy Feedback Theory

"Policies determine politics." -- Lowi (1964) - Citizens → Government Institutions → Public Politics → Policy feedback forms loops back to citizens - public policies are inputs into the political process that can reshape social, economic, and political conditions - Mechanisms: resource and interpretive effects (see below)

DREAM Act

- "Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors" - grants conditional permanent residency to certain illegal immigrants; two years in the military or two years at a four year institution = temporary residency for a six-year period; during that temporary period, permanent residency gain be granted by either completing a four year degree or continue to serve in the military - 15 states have already enacted their own versions of the DREAM act - reintroduced in 2009 by a bipartisan commission; incorporated in the National Defense Authorization Act for FY 2011 and defeated after failing to overcome a Republican filibuster in the senate - as of 2012, federal government no longer deports young illegal residents who match DREAM act criterion

Path Dependency

- Paul Pierson, 1993 - the importance of focusing on formative moments for policies, institutions, and organizations - even small effects at critical junctures may make important differences - Example: adoption of Social Security as response to Great Depression → precedent of government support for senior citizens - sometimes results in policy paths being "locked-in" - lock-in effects: change may be costly due to difficulty in adopting alternatives, decreased likelihood that lawmakers will deviate from a particular policy path - Example: QWERTY typewriter keyboard

The Democratic Dilemma

- _____: Can Citizens Learn What They Need to Know? By Lupia and McCubbins - Democracy requires citizens to make reasoned choices, but people who are called upon to make reasoned choices may not be capable of doing so - Reasoned choice—ability to predict the consequences of actions; knowledge - People choose to disregard most available information and instead substitute it for the advice of others - Trade-off of lower costs for acquiring knowledge, but increased risk of deception - Political institutions help clarify the incentives of advice-givers

Tax Reform Act of 1986

- a law passed by the United States Congress to simplify the income tax code - The Tax Reform Act of 1986, commonly referred to as the second of two Reagan tax cuts, lowered the top tax rate from 50% to 28% and raised the bottom tax rate from 11% to 15% - this was the first time in U.S. income tax history that the top tax rate was lowered and the bottom rate was increased at the same time. The act also mandated that capital gains would be taxed at the same rate as ordinary income.

Medicaid

- health care program for Americans (families, individuals, children) with low income; further covers individuals with some disabilities - most recently impacted by the Affordable Care Act, which significantly expanded the coverage of Medicaid for any citizen in states that opted into the expansion; citizens living up to 133% of the federal poverty line are now elligible - Medicaid was originally an mandatory expansion for all states under the ACA, but this provision was struck down the the SCOTUS as an overreach of federal powers; was then changed to an optional provision that states could vote on individually; 17 states have expanded, 9 will not, several are undecided

Home Mortgage Interest Deduction

- policy that allows taxpayers who own their homes to reduce their taxable income by the amount of interest paid on the loan which is secured by their principal residence; some limitations apply - first, the taxpayer must elect to itemize deductions, and the total itemized deductions must exceed the standard deduction (otherwise, itemization would not reduce tax) - second, the deduction is limited to interest on debts secured by a principal residence or a second home - third, interest is deductible on only the first $1 million of debt used for acquiring, constructing, or substantially improving the residence, ($500,000 if filing separately) or the first $100,000 of home equity debt regardless of the purpose or use of the loan

Sen. Byrd's DC welfare investigations

- published in May 1965, Senator Robert Byrd conducted an "investigation" of welfare caseloads across the District of Columbia and concluded that case fraud was high and checks were being cut to many families and individuals that did not qualify - further decided that there were too many people who were dependent on welfare, and that it was not meant to become a way of life for generations of families to rely on - likely had many racist implications, especially given Byrd's legislative and personal history; evidenced by the fact that groups of mothers had too many "illegitimate children", thus focus by the federal government should be on discouraging this kind of behavior - further concluded that given the high rates of disease, crime, and child illegitimacy, government to approach the problem by cleaning up the welfare caseload and providing rehabilitation for cases they are optimistic about - one of the first instances of the rhetoric of the "welfare queen" that Ronald Reagan famous during his first run for president; references to the black woman who is overly-fertile, lazy, prone to violence and crime, and is unwilling to find a job to pay for her benefits; informed conversation and rhetoric regarding welfare policy for years

The Lavender Scare

- the fear and persecution of homosexuals in the 1950s; homosexuality considered a mental illness - gays who did not want to be uncloseted were susceptible to blackmail by communists - same time as McCarthy's anti-communist campaign/"Red Scare" - Senator Joseph McCarthy and Roy Cohn

Citizenship

- the relationship between individuals and the state - one's "standing" in the polity, which gives a sense of his/her place within the hierarchal system (Shklar) - equality plays a role in defining citizenship - first-class citizenship = possession of civil, social, and political rights - According to T.H. Marshall: -> civil element-- individual rights and freedoms; responsibilities associated with membership in a society -> social element-- right of socio-economic security; right to participation as a full member of social society -> political element-- the right to participate in the exercise of political power

Political Efficacy

- used to explain political behavior by indicating citizens' faith and trust in government as well as his/her belief that she can understand/influence political affairs - often measured by surveys demonstrating the health of civil society - internal efficacy-- the idea that you can influence government - because you can understand politics - external efficacy-- the idea that government responds to people like you - because you believe that you are effective when participating in politics

Perverse Incentives

-incentives that are written into a rule to comply with it in a way that exacerbates the very problems the rule is meant to cure. Create new problems instead of fixing the problem at hand. Occur when there are trade-offs between objectives and a rule rewards or penalizes only one of them.

Resource Effects

-providing incentives for political actors Examples: cash payments, goods, services, low interest rates; scholarship money/education grants, health care, food, support for vocational training

The Nuremberg Lesson

...

Lowi's 4 Policy Arenas

1. Distributive—Patronage policy; "Pork" Examples: Nation building; 19th century land policy; tariffs; subsidies 2. Regulatory—compels particular types of behavior among groups of citizens; encourages conflict. Examples: Eliminating substandard goods, unfair competition, and fraudulent advertising 3. Redistributive—re-allocating benefits between the have's and the have-not's Examples: Federal reserve controls of credit; progressive income tax, social security 4. Constituent—procedural policy; laws governing lawmakers and government; setting the rules for policymaking. Examples: Reapportionment; setting up a new agency (e.g., Establishing the Dept. of Homeland Security); propaganda

AFDC vs SSDI

AFDC (Aid to Families with Dependent Children) is a public assistance program that requires frequent interaction, one in which there is a frequent need to prove means-tested eligibility. On the other hand, the SSDI (Social Security Disability Insurance) program is a social insurance program that requires less frequent interaction and decision making. Clients in the SSDI program initiate most of their dealings with the agency while bureaucrats exercise considerable power over clients in the AFDC program.

AFDC

Aid to Families with Dependent Children

The Submerged State

By Suzanne Mettler (How Invisible Government Policies Undermine American Democracy) - the slew of government policies that most Americans don't realize exist or don't realize are government policies - pertains especially to President Obama's policy goals upon entering office - includes vast federal policies that function by providing incentives, subsidies, or payments to private organizations or households to encourage or reimburse them for conducting activities deemed to serve a public purpose - contradicts popular expectations because most benefits go to wealthy Americans - difficult for average citizens to form meaningful opinions - paradox of the submerged state: governance appears "stateless" because it operates indirectly, through subsidizing private actors. - Application: US Healthcare system, student loans, tax expenditures - Problems: exacerbate inequality, undermines popular sovereignty

Systematic Evaluation of Policy

Careful, objective, scientific assessment of the current and long-term costs and effects of policies on target and non-target situations and groups; this approach is rare.

Impressionistic Evaluation of Policy

Haphazard assessment of policies; based on factors like interest group complaints, media stories, legislative hearings, citizens' complaints, etc; this approach is typical.

Conference Committee

If the second house passes a bill with major changes, either chamber may request a conference committee consisting of a 5-person, bipartisan delegation from each house. They meet to reconcile the differences.

Punctuated Equilibrium

In the policy process, long periods of relative stability or incrementalism are interrupted by short bursts of dramatic change. Frank Baumgartner and Bryan Jones first presented it in 1993. The model states that policy generally changes only incrementally due to several restraints, namely the "stickiness" of institutional cultures, vested interests, and the bounded rationally of individual decision-makers. Policy change will thus be punctuated by changes in these conditions, especially in party control of government, or changes in public opinion.

The Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1933

Introduced by President Franklin D. Roosevelt which paid farmers to limit production. The goal was to raise prices of major commodities, including wheat, corn, tobacco to the the "parity level" or what farmers would have received when agricultural markets were strong. This was an important piece of legislation, especially in the wake of the Great Depression. This legislation succeeded in helping farmers earn fair prices for their products, even after natural disasters.

Kingdon's 3 Streams for Agenda Setting

Issues appear on the agenda when three streams converge: Problem stream, policy stream, and political stream. The three streams tend to come together when a policy entrepreneur recognizes a window of opportunity. · Problem stream—where problems are identified; usually the result of focusing events (e.g., Sandy Hook; Sputnik; Hurricanes Katrina and Sandy) · Political Stream—help to identify the major issues (but not the details); based on the national mood, party in power, political events; dominated by high-profile government actors · Policy Stream—where possible policy alternatives are developed; dominated by bureaucrats, researchers, academics—people who look into details.

Policy windows:

Offers occasional "opportunities for action on given initiatives" that "open infrequently and do not stay open long" Legislative entrepreneurs can take advantage of these opportunities to pass policy

Strong Responsiveness Model

Politicians hold policy positions that hold party supports and appeal to a centrist position (the median voter); they are more concerned with holding positions that will get them reelected than pursuing a policy goal that is unpopular with the public. Thus politicians are very responsive to public opinion.

Policy-oriented perspective

Pursuing a certain policy goal is more important than the costs of compromising electoral election. Politicians more likely to appeal to partisan constituents than general public (partisan supporters more likely to be activists, fundraisers, etc.)

Tax Expenditures

Revenue losses that result from special exemptions, exclusions, or deductions on federal tax law. Example: The Home Mortgage Interest Deduction or the Child Tax Credit. Part of what Susan Mettler calls "The Submerged State."

SSDI

Social Security Disability Insurance

Root Method

The ___ Method of Decision making is similar to Rational Choice Model where we first specify the ends and then identify possible alternatives, evaluate the alternatives and determine which alternative maximizes welfare/expected utility.

Branch Method

The ______ Method is different than the [other] Method because the ______ Method relies heavily on the record of past experience with small policy steps to predict the consequences of similar steps. It considers only a few means, it considers fewer alternatives and the evaluation is crude, meaning that it ignores certain consequences. Begins with current situation and changes incrementally.

Social Construction of Target Populations

The idea that politicians use social constructions to advantage certain groups over others. The article talks about advantaged groups, deviant groups, the contenders and dependent groups. Advantaged groups are groups that have positive constructions and are powerful (elderly), deviant groups are weak and have negative constructions (criminals), contenders have negative constructions but are powerful (rich) and dependents are weak but have positive constructions (mothers, disabled, children). This is important to our understanding of policy because the social construction of target populations explains why politicians cater to the needs of groups with positive constructions over groups with negative constructions. Since politicians are interested in re-election, they must appeal to the interests of groups with positive constructions.

Polis Model of Decision Making

The statement of goals are more than wishes and intentions but are also a means of gathering support. This model uses issue framing in order to control the number and kinds of alternatives to the table. Members of the polis use Hobson's choice in order to make a particular strategy appear as the only plausible strategy.

Rational Model of Decision Making

This model involves defining a goal, imagining alternative means of attaining that goal, evaluating the consequences of pursuing each alternative and choosing the alternative that will maximize total welfare. One form of the ___ model involves a cost-benefit analysis, in which the rational actor weighs the benefits and costs of a particular decision. In this case the actor would only take the decision if the benefits outweigh the costs.

Utiliarian Morality

holds that we should judge actions by their results/consequences.

Interpretive Effects

sending messages to political actors, acting as a source of political learning Examples: Experiences, messages, political lessons/learning; message of first-class citizenship, negative experience with a program or with program administrators, GI Bill makes veterans feel respected by generous and accessible benefits.

Deontological Morality

the idea that actions should be judged by whether or not they correspond to enduring principles of rightness.