Comprehensive Public Administration & Policy Analysis for Students

Public Administration (definition)

To serve the public good; regulating private markets; record keeping; "to do for a community of people what needs to be done that they cannot do themselves" (e.g. roads, street lights)

Why we might need LESS public administration

Lack of incentives for public employees; lack of profit-driven motivation; lack of efficiency due to proceduralism/bureaucracy; public offering may not be as good as private

How public organizations differ from private

Don't control many key tools; higher negative scrutiny from taxpayers; changing policy goals with elections; lack of clearly defined performance equivalent to profit; multiple and competing policy goals

Ways to improve government functions (Lynn and Hill)

Structure (formal/lawful delegations); Craft (e.g. leadership); Culture; Delegation

Ways to deal with issues created by delegation

Privatize; Decentralize; Downsize; Increase accountability

Five mechanisms for political principals to control bureaucratic agents (U.S. Administrative Law)

Ex ante procedures (notice and comment); Ex post review (court intervention); Appointment power; Removal power; Ad hoc interventions (pardon power, emergency powers)

State Capacity

The ability of the state to get things done, achieve policy goals, and provide basics of good government — the potential for government to "do stuff"

Implementation (definition)

The formal and informal processes of guiding human interaction toward public organizational objectives; "a world of settled institutions designed to allow imperfect people to use flawed procedures to cope with insoluble problems"

Administrative Burdens

The experience of policy implementation as onerous; includes learning costs, compliance costs, and psychological costs

Learning Costs (administrative burden)

Engaging search processes to collect information about public services and how they are relevant to the individual (e.g. learning rules for claiming Pell Grant)

Compliance Costs (administrative burden)

The costs of following administrative rules and requirements (e.g. filling out the FAFSA)

Psychological Costs (administrative burden)

Stigma, loss of autonomy, stress, fear (e.g. not claiming benefits due to stigma)

Proceduralism (rules-based definition)

The full panoply of formal legal obstacles that an agency must negotiate in order to complete a particular action

Proceduralism (behavioral definition)

The tendency of public sector systems and people within them to focus on rules, constraints, and processes to the point that they severely degrade capacity to perform primary goals

Traditional model of politicization

Centralize policymaking; strategically use ~4,000 political appointees; bipartisan; uneasy balance between merit and loyalty

New model of politicization

Loyalty to individual is primary; radical messaging/conspiracies; personal attacks and intimidation; weaken and purge civil service; vast expansion of political class

Potential downsides of politicization

Reduces capacity/performance; invites cronyism; hires less competent people; leads to lower program performance; directs more money to politically connected businesses; risks overturning entire federal workforce with each new administration

Outcome-oriented philanthropy (Strategic Philanthropy)

Focused on achieving goals determined at the outset (e.g. improving teacher effectiveness); originated in 1990s; Gates and Broad foundations are typical examples

Field-oriented philanthropy

Focused on democratic engagement of citizens over specific policy outcomes; Kellogg and Ford foundations are examples

Population Health Science

Multidisciplinary field focused on understanding patterns/distributions of health outcomes and their causes; examines unequal distribution across groups; uses multi-level focus (macro, midstream, downstream)

Social-Ecological Model of Health

Health is a product of multi-level interactions: Individual → Interpersonal → Institutional → Community → Policy

Core Functions of Public Health

Protection, Promotion, Prevention (Primordial, Primary, Secondary, Tertiary, Quaternary)

Primordial Prevention

Preventing development of risk factors by shaping social and environmental conditions (e.g. safety net programs, housing subsidies, income support)

Primary Prevention

Preventing onset of disease or injury (e.g. vaccines, anti-smoking education)

Secondary Prevention

Identifying/controlling disease in early stages before symptoms appear (e.g. mammography screenings, HIV testing)

Tertiary Prevention

Halting disease progression and preventing disability by restoring optimal functioning (e.g. rehabilitation after stroke, diabetes management)

Quaternary Prevention

Protecting patients from harms of overmedicalization; weighing whether medical intervention benefits outweigh costs (e.g. removing fluoride from water, reducing vaccine requirements)

Justifications for government restricting individual freedoms (U.S. Constitution)

Reduction in risk/harm to others; protection of incompetent persons; reduction in risk to self; police power (granted at state/local level)

Epidemiology (definition)

A population science that focuses on describing and explaining the incidence, distribution, and prevention/control of illness, injury, and risk factors related to health

Basic Reproduction Rate (R0)

Average expected number of secondary cases from one case; R0<1 = disease will cease; R0=1 = cases maintained; R0>1 = exponential growth

Effective Reproduction Rate (RE)

Case reproduction rate accounting for proportion of people with immunity and interventions; lower RE flattens the curve

Herd Immunity

Resistance to community spread of an infectious agent based on pre-existing immunity in a population (e.g. measles requires 95%+ immunity)

Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions (NPIs)

Policies aimed at population during epidemic (e.g. improved hygiene, reducing physical contact); tradeoff: reduces transmission but negatively impacts economy, education, and social welfare

Four ways housing affects health (Lauren Taylor 2018)

Stability (homelessness/eviction/frequent moves); Quality and safety (crowding, exposures); Affordability (monthly budget); Neighborhood (built environment, segregation, social networks)

Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH)

Housing-first model; provides long-term housing and supportive services before requiring individuals meet milestones; includes substance abuse treatment, mental health care, employment training; proven more cost-effective

Wrong Pockets Problem

Public administration problem when one agency pays for an intervention but a different agency/unit receives the benefit (e.g. Medicaid pays for housing, savings go to psychiatric hospitals/jails)

Evidence-Based Policymaking

Uses best available research and information on program results to guide decisions at all stages of the policy-making process and in each branch of government

Qualitative Research

Focuses on collecting and analyzing non-numerical data (text, descriptions) to understand individuals' experiences and motivations; methods include in-depth interviews, focus groups, and observations

Quantitative Research

Involves collecting and analyzing numerical data using statistical techniques to describe, predict, or explain phenomena; tests hypotheses and generalizes findings to a larger population

Policy Justification Framework (Gostin) — steps

(1) How problem is framed/whether there is a problem; (2) Effectiveness of policy solution; (3) Economy/Efficiency; (4) Intrusions on freedoms and liberties; (5) Equity (differential impact on groups)

Policy Options Analysis — steps

Verify/define problem → Establish evaluation criteria → Identify alternative policies → Distinguish among alternatives → Monitor implemented policies

Policy Options Analysis — evaluation criteria

Benefits; Costs; Equity; Efficiency; Values/other considerations; Unintended consequences

Predictive Analysis

Modeling the likelihood of a future outcome; prospective in nature

Simulation Modeling

Predicting how outcomes would change if various inputs are changed

Needs Assessment

Identify and prioritize needs of a project/program/policy; generates description of the problem and existing solutions using interviews, focus groups, existing data, or new surveys

Evidence Synthesis

Summary of results from related descriptive studies, process, and impact evaluations; a synthesis of prior research and evaluation evidence

Implementation/Process Evaluation

Documenting and understanding what programs or policies look like "on the ground"

Cost-Benefit Analysis

Evaluates whether the benefits of a policy/program outweigh the costs (value for money)

Experimental Study (Impact Evaluation)

Randomly assign intervention to some individuals but not others within a sample, then compare outcomes; also known as an RCT (Randomized Control Trial)

Quasi-Experimental Study

Analysis of cases where the intervention is assigned in a way plausibly unrelated to confounding factors, even if not randomly; tries to mimic an RCT (e.g. difference-in-differences, regression discontinuity)

Non-Experimental Study

Individuals participate naturally; researchers attempt to control for confounding factors via statistical analysis; also known as an observational study

Causal vs. Descriptive Question

Causal: asks if A causes B. Descriptive: describes the state of the world, plots trends, or highlights disparities. The type of question determines what kind of evaluation to conduct.

Internal Validity

Did the treatment actually make a difference in the setting under study? Research design allows assessment of intervention effects without rival hypotheses or alternative explanations.

External Validity

Is the treatment effect generalizable outside the circumstances of the research design? The portability/applicability of findings in another place or time.

Measurement Reliability

A reliable measure is relatively free from measurement error and gives consistent results over repeated applications

Measurement Validity

A valid measure actually assesses what it purports to measure

Statistical Validity

The extent to which conclusions of a research study can be considered accurate and reliable from a statistical test; requires sufficient data and appropriate statistical methods

Counterfactual

What would have happened if the program or policy had not been implemented; never directly observed

Selection Bias

Occurs when individuals or groups in a study differ systematically from the population of interest, leading to a systematic error in the link between treatment and outcome

Confounding / Omitted Variable Bias

A third factor could be causing the observed relationship between two variables

Correlation vs. Causation

Correlation = a relationship/pattern between two variables. Causation = one event causes another event to occur.

Fundamental Problem of Causal Inference

If you aren't comparing two similar groups who receive different treatments/policies, you cannot know if any difference is due to the policy or something else

RCT (Randomized Control Trial)

Randomly assign some people to receive a treatment and others not to; random assignment makes groups similar on average so any difference can be attributed to the program. Strengths: causal interpretation, high internal validity. Limitations: may not be feasible or ethical.

Multivariate Regression (purpose)

Matching treatment and control groups statistically by controlling for confounding variables

Carol Weiss — How politics and evaluation intersect

Policies are inherently political (proposed/enacted via political process); evaluation reports are used in political decision-making; evaluation implicitly legitimizes program goals and social scientific input

Carol Weiss — Recommendations for evaluators

Don't accept bloated rhetoric; have modest/reasonable goals; determine conditions under which program is more/less successful; evaluate strong version of a program first; know when evaluation is no longer useful (e.g. many prior null results)

Still learning (66)

You've started learning these terms. Keep it up!