POLS 340 Exam III

At what stage of the policy process does the judiciary potentially have the largest role?

review

College student loans and agricultural price supports are two examples of what type of public policy based on class discussion?

distributive policies

Up until the 1960s, the national government had significant economic regulatory responsibilities in all of the following areas except which area?

healthcare

Which president was known as the “great trustbuster”?

Theodore Roosevelt

Which of the following is not something done by the Sherman Antitrust Act?

outlawed price discrimination in order to lessen competition

In what year was the Interstate Commerce Commission created?

1887

Which of the following is not a difference between independent regulatory commissions and dependent regulatory agencies?

IRC term length is generally short while DRA length is very long

Which president signed an executive order directing all national government agencies to designate chief performance officers?

Barack Obama

What is public policy?

the organizing framework of purposes and rationales for government programs that deal with specified societal problems and the complex programs enacted and implemented by government

What are common assumptions about government policy?

governments have clearly defined policies all thought in advance

those policies are established through political leaders making a rational choice of all of the better alternatives

everything that is done to address a given problem or issue are followed

policies of government are clearly perceived and understood by citizens

many believe that government policies are widely agreed upon and supported

What are the different types of policies?

distributive, redistributive, regulatory, and self-regulatory

What are distributive policies?

policy actions that provide widespread benefits to individuals or groups that do not bear directly bear the costs

What are redistributive policies?

deliberate efforts by government to shift the allocations of wealth, income, property, or rights among broad groups or individuals

What are some examples of redistributive policies?

income tax, medicaid, and food stamps

What are regulatory policies?

established restrictions behavior of those who are subject to the reglation, aim to protect groups, range broadly in scope, and are often enforced against businesses

What are self-regulatory policies?

protective regulations that advantage certain protections or remove the government’s power to regulate

What are protective regulations?

advantages certain groups or individuals by granting special access or licenses

What are the stages of the policy-making process?

legislative

rulemaking

implementation

review

What is the legislative stage of the policy-making process?

a stage that approves laws that establish the bureaucracy and gives goals to the bureaucracy

the president is involved

What are the functions of rules within the rulemaking stage of the policy-making process?

elaborating on generaly statutory provision

help define terms

indicates probable agency behavior in particular matters

What is rulemaking?

quasi-legislative power delegated to agencies by Congress; a rule issued under this authority represents an agency statement of general applicability and future effect that concerns the rights of private parties, and has the force and effect of law

What are the difference between programs and projects within the rulemaking stage of the policy-making process?

programs = broad

projects = narrow

What type of function is adjudication?

quasi-judicial

What is adjudication?

quasi-judicial power delegated to agencies by Congress, under which agencies apply existing laws or rules to particular situations, in case-by-case decision making

What is planning and analysis?

process of deliberating defining and choosing the operational goals of an organization, analyzing alternative choices for resource distribution, and choosing methods to achieve those goals over specified time period

What is program implementation?

general political and governmental process of carrying out programs in order to fulfill specified policy objectvies; a responsibility chiefly of administrative agencies, under chief-executive and/or legislative guidance; the activities directed toward putting a policy into effect

What are the activities within implementation?

organization

interpretation

application

What are the included steps within the program evaluation and review technique?

deciding to address a given problem

choosing the necessary activities to deal with all the relevant aspects of the problem

drawing up estimates of the time and other resources required, including minimum, maximum, and most likely amounts

What is the critical path method?

management approach to program implementation in which a manager attempts to assess the resource needs of different paths of action, and to identify the “critical path” with the smallest margin of extra resources needed to complete all assigned program activities

What is the critical path method an extension of?

the program evaluation and review technique

What is management by objectives?

management technique designed to facilitate goal and priority setting, development of plans, resource allocation, monitoring progress toward goals, evaluating results, and generating and implementing improvements in performance

What is program evaluation?

systematic examination of government actions, policies, or programs to determine their success or failure

What are the three purposes of program evaluation?

learn about a program’s operations and effects

fix accountability of those responsible

influence the responses of those in the program’s external political environment

What are the preconditions of evaluation procedures?

identify the problem

what the situation is before anything is changed

what goals are trying to be reached

What are the series of steps for evaluation procedures?

what’s being evaluated

collect data

analysis

What are before-and-after studies?

evaluation and comparison of results before and after program implementation to determine what results, if any, were achieved

What is time-tend projection?

comparison of preprogram data with actual post-program data

What is controlled experimentation?

involves comparisons of two groups of similar people, one served by the program and another (control group) not served or served differently; the most expensive and least practiced form of evaluation

What forms have government regulatory activities historically taken?

putting limits of those who produce goods and services

promoting commerce

What is the commerce clause?

clause in Article I, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution that empowers Congress to regulate interstate commerce with foreign countries and that forms the constitutional basis for much national government regulation