Public Policy: Chapter 7: Policies and Policy Types

Administrative Procedures Act (APA)

a federal law that requires regulatory agencies to follow particular procedures in rule-making, such as public notice of new rules, public comment periods, publication of rule-making activity in the Federal Register and the like

procedural policy

a policy that determines how the government's procedures- the way it goes about its work- are to be governed. The Administrative Procedures Act is an example of a procedural policy; such policies can have substantive influence on policies

substantive policy

a policy that explains how the government will go about its policy goals in a particular area. Contrast with symbolic policy and procedural policy

symbolic policy

a policy that satisfies public demand for statements of principles or values, without any resources to support the. The naming of the post offices, highways, and airports after famous people or the TV networks' adoption of a voluntary system of television content ratings similar to those of movies, can be seen as symbolic policies, although the line between symbolic and substantive policies is not always clear.

cost-benefit typology

a policy typology based on James Q Wilson's idea that one can understand the politics related to a policy by understanding which categories of people bear the greatest or least cost for a policy, and which gain the greatest or least benefits from it

policy

a statement by government of what it needs to do or not to do, such as law, regulation, ruling, decision, or order or a combination of these. The lack of such statements may also be implicit statement of policy

typology

a system for categorizing things based on similar characteristics, and for differentiating things with different characteristics. A policy of typology is a way of organizing a broad range of public policies into a system of policy types to aid in understanding and analysis

street-level bureaucrat

a term coined by Michael Lipsky to describe the actors at the low end of the implementation chain, such as teachers, police officers, and social workers, who implement policies at the point of contact with the policy's target population

protective regulatory policy

a type of policy that seeks to protect the public and consumers from market problems, such as deceptive advertising, or negative externalities (ex pollution)

interest group liberalism

according to Theodore Lowi, the dominant form of politics in the US, in which government seeks to accommodate a wide range or a relatively narrow interests against each other and choose to support some more interests more or less than other intersets

private goods

goods that can be provided in the open market without major free riding problems. Contrast with public goods

public goods

goods that, once provided for one user, are provided for everyone (national defense) economists say that public goods are indivisible and nonexclusive, because they cannot be divided into parts for individuals to consume and because one person's use of the good does not deny the others the use of the good

re-distributive policy

in Lowi's policy typology, this is a policy that takes (or seems to take) a resource from one identifiable group and gives a benefit to another readily identifiable group. such policies are the most controversial contentions

distributive policy

in Lowi's policy typology, this is a type of policy that takes a resource from a group of people and give the resource to a narrower group. ES: pork-barrel policies that send money to particular districts for local programs

Code of Federal Regulations (CFR)

the compilation (in print and online) of all federal regulations. these regulations are first published in the federal register and public comment is taken into account before the regulations are codified in the CFR

Federal Register

the daily journal of federal rule-making and other administrative activity. Many notices of federal administrative activity are published in the federal register, the most important of which are codified in the code of federal regulations

competitive regulatory policy

these are policies designed to 'limit the provision and services to one or a few designated deliverers, who are chosen from a large number of competing potential deliverers' the licensing of various professions, and of radio and tv stations, are examples of such policies