Public policy midterm

What is public policy?

“The sum total of government action, from signals of intent to the final outcome”

Why is framing so important?

sets the way that policymakers and constituents look at a certain problem, often done through rhetoric and using language intentionally and selectively to portray issues.

Framing rests on these four factors:

1. using shortcuts to turn large pieces of info into signals people pay attention to

2. People value the things they own (losing costs more than not gaining)

3. People rely on others to make decisions for us

4. The order in which we process information affects us

Frames are…

structures that hold up the policy world, regular patterns of behaviors

two kinds of framing

Framing to persuade vs. framing for deliberation. The difference is the second one wants to bring people into the conversation.

two types of framing for deliberation

honest vs. dishonest. One presents all the information leading you to make your own decision. The other presents limited information intentionally.

The policy cycle

1. Problem definition

2. Agenda setting

3. Policy formulation

4. Legitimization/enactment

5. Implementation

6. Evaluation

top-down vs. bottom up approaches to policymaking

1. Top-down: What does a policy need to succeed (start at the top- I want to make this policy)

2. Bottom-up: How can we address actual issues? (start of bottom- what needs to be solved)

punctured equilibrium theory

policy change doesn’t happen a lot for a long time, followed by little bursts of lots of activity

Policy drift

The existing policy slowly becomes inapt because of social and political changes

Factors associated with policy change

1. context

2. Focusing events

3. Public opinion

4. learning

5. diffusion of ideas/laws

6. champions and political associations

good problem definition…

1. works to solve problems, not find them

2. focuses on actual results, not just tangible ones

3. brings in multiple disciplines

4. is clear and actually solvable

participatory problem definition

concise and clear statement of problems essence and the people it most effects

five steps for problem definition

1. What the problem is

2. When and were it occurs

3. whom it affects

4. why it occurs

5. why it matters

How to articulate problems:

1. Make sure it is not a solution in disguise

2. avoid vague generalities

3. avoid complex jargon

Lasso-ing

1. Is it Limited?

2. Can it be Acted on?

3. Is it Specific?

4. Will it be Supported?

5. Who is the problem Owner?

Collective action problems

A problem where individual actions may not produce the best outcome for he or she

Three broad rationals for public problems

1. Market failure

2. Social failure

3. government failure

Two uses of evidence in policy making

1. Descriptive: using evidence to support policy

2. Prescriptive: using evidence to solve all issues of policy making, mostly ignoring constituents and focusing only on evidence

Comprehensive rationality/ synoptic rationality

The idea that law-makers will work perfectly together to solve an issue, foreseeing all possible effects of implementing a certain policy

How evidence should be used in policy making and why:

in a bottom-up approach, consulting wide range of interest groups and public bodies, to create a wide “ownership of issue”

Inductive reasoning

using logical assumptions to fill in gaps of information

What are the issues with inductive reasoning?

it leads constituents to think they know more about a policy than they actually do, leaving room for misconceptions

What makes people use inductive reasoning?

informational utility and how it relates to inductive reasoning

people are more likely to engage in a piece of media if it will help them respond to its environment, people are more likely to inductive reason on policy they feel like influences them

How does inductive reasoning form misconceptions?

1. Want to place blame

2. partisan rhetoric

3. “taxonomic similarity”- draw on similar things you know

Elite misinformation

Not only is the public misinformed but the government is also misinformed sometimes

How do we know things? (information ecosystems)

1. anecdotal evidence- our own lived experience

2. inductive reasoning

3. Empirical evidence- evidence from collected facts

Who do we consider policymakers?

elected and unelected people in the government; organizations

System 1 vs. system 2 thinking

system 1: happens instantly and reactionarily, not much voluntary control

system 2: effortful mental activity

conformation bias

the tendence for us to look for evidence to support what we already believe

bias to belief

we are more likely to believe, as unbelief requires system 2 thinking

availability bias

the availibility of information on one subject makes it seem more likely

Halo effect

like one thing about somebody, like everything aabout them

availability cascade

ignoring the likely (safe) outcomes because you are overwhelmed by the less likely (scary) outcomes

WYSIATI ("What You See Is All There Is")

Latching onto the first piece of information and not considering what information we might be lacking

public vs. experts view of risk

The public has deeper consideration for risk, while experts mainly care about numbers or stats.

Engrossment effects our:

1. Attitudes- What we feel toward a topic

2. Beliefs- what we believe about a topic

3. interests- how intensely we focus on a topic

4. Values- What moral actions look like (jesus and the good samaritan)

3 kinds of interests:

1. Altruistic interests: Ex. giving when hearing stories of misfortune

2. Ideological interests: certain preferences about the world

3. patriotic interests: pro-america

Narratives of Public Policy

1. Change- stories of decline or progress

2. Power- stories of control, blame-the-victim stories

3. look for synecdoche and metaphor

4. have heros and villians, problems and solutions, tensions and resolutions

How to use art responsibly in public policy

1. Make art not propaganda

2. put the numbers in conversation with the story

3. make sure its a true synecdoche, not a strawman

4. consider the consequences for the people you highlight

The three streams theory (what are the three streams):

1. problem stream- attention to the problem

2. policy stream- a solution can be found

3. politics stream- policymakers can and want to act

Garbage can model

the mix of problems, solutions, and choices are dumped (similar to streams model)

Where does the garbage can theory apply

1. ambiguity (many ways to look at public policy)

2. competition for attention

3. imperfect selection process (hard to get verifiable data)

4. no linear process

5. “softening”- some issues take time to be accepted

Focusing events are:

1. Sudden

2. relatively uncommon

3. harmful or revealing potential for future harms

4. concentrated in an area

5. known to policy makers and the public simultaneously

relation between focusing events and pro-change groups

Pro-change groups need focusing events to get attention and a platform for their issues, focusing events need pro-change groups to use their momentum to change into action

3 agendas

1. systematic agenda

2. institutional agenda

3. decision agenda

systematic agenda

whats expressed broadly as a problem (in media/news)

institutional agenda

whats discussed in policymaking agenda

decision agenda

what they’re actually deciding on/voting on

Agenda setting changes:

sometimes happen because of these big events or social pressue, but actually rely a lot on bureaucratic routine in the government

Bounded rationality

people who are designing policy are human beings that can not forsee all possible outcomes of a policy

incrementalism

Not solving big problems all at once, but slowly putting policy together to address a big issue

Policy instruments

1. Legal coercion

2. services

3. economic instruments

4. suasion (trying to get them to do it of their own accord, or bully)

institutions

“humanly devised constraints that shape human interactions”

path dependence

because a certain issue has had so much policy, we are starting from behind trying to solve the issue

Statistical compassion

Having compassion for the numbers

Blame avoidance chart

Strategies for Blame Avoidence:

1. Preventing blame by keeping potentially costly choices from being considered

2. prevent blame-generation by developing policy that obscures or diffuses loses (when blame-generating policy is already on the table)

3. prevent/delay blame by preventing constituents from suffering loses

4. defect blame by making others take the politically costly choices

5. defect blame by blaming others

6. defect blame by supporting alternative

7. diffuse blame spreading it out among policymakers

8. prevent blame by keeping credit-making opportunites that conflict with policy preferences from being considered

zero-sum conflict

a choice between a policy and the status quo

negative-sum conflict

all alternatives have strong negative consequences for at least some of the policy maker’s constituents

connection between “bounded rationality” and “incrementalism”

because policy-makers have bounded rationality and can’t foresee every outcome to a proposed policy, it is necessary we work through incrementalism to prevent very bad outcomes from major works of policy

Rational- actor model

individuals and states are logical, self-interested agents who make decisions by systematically analyzing all available information to maximize benefits and minimize costs

veto points

points where a certain policy can be killed, represents how easy it is for a policy to be passed

Ways to legitimize public policy

1. legislatively (through a law)

2. Administratively (someone passes a rule)

3. Courts (uphold a law)

4. popular support

5. It stops being fought by constituents

6. social pressure

7. becomes common sense

Waterfalls

Policy makers design a policy and push it down a cascade. The people at the bottom enact what the policymakers wanted. Leads to a large gap between the policy and implementation.

Bureaucratic anxiety cycle

A way to overcompensate because of fear of misuse or mismanagement by the government. A cycle of 1) Anxiety, 2)inaction and poor service, 3)increased proceduralism.

Discretion

Who has discretion over the implementation of these laws?

Street-level bureaucrats

the people at the street-level who are actually responsible for implementing the rules and make the decisions on how to enforce and carry it out

Capture

when government attempts to help, but is manipulated by special interest groups or private entities to serve their own economic agendas

Ambiguous or vague language in policymaking

Pros: Often helpful with enactment, allows experts to decide the technical questions, punts important decisions that shape overall policy design.

Cons: can introduce competing goals and make implementation confusing

implementation challenges

1. Coordination and communication problems in the government

2. Administrative burdens: who bears the burdens of implementing these laws

3. Technology issues: lots of technical systems that have databases built on them

4. Distance between the government and the people they govern

5. Gaps between what they want to happen and the ease and availability of people using them

Modern Administrative power

organized interest groups

Formal organizations, based on individual voluntary membership, which seek to influence public policies without assuming governmental responsibility

fog of enactment

how a policy can not truly be seen for its consequences until it is actually enacted

Four factors that influence the fog of enactment

1. Novel policies

2. Major reforms

3. Technical policy

4. Multiple jurisdictions

Beneficiaries

 will support politicians who want to keep or enhance that policy and oppose politicians who want to curtail that policy—this is positive policy feedback, positive because it reinforces & strengthens the policy

Opponents

will fight politicians; this is negative policy feedback, as it is a feedback loop that undermines that policy.

Forms of Retrenchments:

• Displacement- laws or rules being rewritten

• Layering- adding other laws on top of the law to change implementation

• Conversion-use of old rules for new means

indirect vs. direct means of retrenchment

Direct: Lobbying directly to policymakers, either to change laws or make new laws to weaken law

Indirect: working through the public, party, or legal system to undermine law or make it seem unpopular, astroturfing

Technical complexities vs. political complexities

Technical: the actual writing of it

Political: how do we get it passed

Ways we evaluate policy:

• How we choose focus on one politician's record (outright)

• How long we wait to evaluate (subtle)

• How well-resourced our evaluation should be (subtle)

• How we measure and explain outcomes (subtle)

• What we compare the outcomes too (subtle)

• How we differentiate the consequences of this particular policy (subtle)

Rational Actor model

Humans will do whatever is necessary to satisfy their narrowly construed self-interest, to gain the most benefits

Prospect theory

humans fear losses more than they want gains

Why do we evaluate policy?

1. Want to make program better (want to redirect)

2. Want to get more generalized knowledge about what policy practices are best

3. To hold policymakers accountable 

4. To make a political point to voters about success or failure 

What is policy success?

1. The policy is perceived as a success (polling says voters approve)

2. The policy persists or even grows stronger (becomes entrenched)

3. It solves the problem it was intended to

4. The policy addresses the core underlying problem 

What is public interest?

• Classic utilitarian approach: greatest good for the greatest number of people 

• Public opinion approach: the collective judgement of the people through elections or polls tells us what the public interest is (what if this is manipulated?) 

• Scientific approach: based on an accepted theory or a broad band of empirical evidence, a general preference, what is good/right 

• Public administration approach: a process to understand and balance everyone's preferences

• Cynics approach: there is no public interest

Wicked problems

1. Difficult to define

2. Multi-causal and interconnected, with many actors split across society

3. Unstable, rife with possible unintended consequences

4. No clear solution

Who are members of the policy making community?

1. Elected officials with key roles

2. appointed department/agency heads

3. Top-level career civil servant

4. economic interest groups/powerful business firms

5. Policy Advocacy groups

Goals of American public policy (as defined by constitution)

Common defense, domestic tranquility, justice, blessings of liberty, general welfare

Current government revenue and spending

spending= 6.8 trillion, revenue=4.9 trillion (mostly relies on income tax~ 1/2)

Mandatory vs. discretionary spending

Mandatory spending is that which is required by the constitution, not yearly appropriations bills (about 4.1 trillion). Discretionary spending is that which is subject to yearly legislation (about 1.8 trillion)

Examples of mandatory spending

Health Care (Medicare, medicaid), Social security, income security programs (aid-based need like SNAP assistance)

Examples of discretionary spending

Defense (about 45% of discretionary spending), Education, transportation

Biggest Areas of government spending

Healthcare (20%), Pensions (17.9%), education (15%)

What are the goals of American Public Policy?

Why is income inequality a problem?

• Highest income inequality (1928 and 2007) creates a speculative bubble and large amounts of debt as those with middle or low incomes are stagnating

• America requires a strong middle class to stimulate spending, growing our economy, but the middle-class keep working harder and harder and getting no where

• What caused this inequality (grew the most in the 70s)? - growing assault on labor unions, -the technological revolution - the movement of labor overseas

• Making upward social mobility harder and harder to climb- those born into poverty are unlikely to get out

Federal Budget process

President sets a budget, congress is supposed to pass a concurrent budget for the next five to ten years that is passed in both house and senate. Recently though, congress has been failing to do so, and frequently violated their budget even when they do pass it.

Major federal revenue sources

Income tax (54%), payroll tax (30%), corporate income tax (9%)

Major state and local revenue sources

State: Transfers from federal gov (37%), income tax (19%), sales tax (14%)

Local: Transfers from state gov (37%), property tax (30%), charges (fees, ect.)(17%)