PUP3002 module A

study of public policy

the systematic, scientific analysis of government activity, including laws, regulations, and funding priorities, and its influence on society.

public policy

government action designed to address the demands of a set of citizens to resolve a social issue

accountability

the consent of the governed

efficiency 

whether the resources, time, and energy of a program are delivering the greatest policy outcomes, for a given level of resources.

federalism

a system of shared powers in which the state governments shifted some of their original powers to the national government

stakeholders

a set of individuals whose interests are at stake or affected by a given policy

collective action dilemma

micro-level incentives prevent individuals from organizing to advocate for benefits individually even though they may extract those collectively

policy entrepreneur

any individual who advocates, organizes, or attempts to define a policy problem or solution

dominant policy image

that image that most citizens think of when a phrase or policy is mentioned

policy window

an opportunity in time where political and policy pressures align momentarily to allow some set of policy problems and solutions to meet.

policy demands

the pressures placed upon elected leaders and policymakers that change the costs of their inaction

credible action

a promised or threatened action that the action’s target believes will be carried out with a high probability

agenda setting

the process by which formal institutional centers of power will take up and potentially act on a policy solution

advocacy coalition

policy subsystems that consist of a variety of interests, including actors within administrative agencies, legislative committees, researchers, policy analysts, etc.

technical complexity

the level of knowledge that is required to understand a policy area

policy salience

the number of citizens that are likely to be affected by the policy in a significant way

cost-benefit analysis

involves identifying all of the costs of a proposed policy or project, all of its benefits, and calculating a ratio to determine whether benefits exceed costs.

policy evaluation

the systematic investigation of the effects of a policy on its intended social target, prior to action.

program evaluation

the systematic investigation of the effects of a program on its intended social target, once enacted.

policy neutral

the analyst must guard against injecting their own political beliefs into the analysis process.

model of public policy

a simplified representation of the causal relationships that link any number of policy inputs with a policy output of interest.

causal relationship

a relationship between an input variable and an output variable, where an outcome variable has changed due to an exposure to an input variable.

necessary condition

if X is a ________ to cause some outcome Y, then whenever we observe the presence of Y, we must also observe X

sufficient condition

is X is a _________ to cause some outcome Y, then if we observe the presence of X, we must observe Y.

conditional causality

when the effect of one variable, X, on Y is moderated by the effect of another variable, Z.

deterministic relationship

a relationship that will always produce the same output from a treatment or initial state

probabilistic relationship

a relationship that will produce the output from a treatment or initial state, w some probability

generalizable

a model that is not context-specific

multivariate

an output with multiple causes

probabilistic world

a world in which when we explain a policy output, we must recognize that there exists a set of factors that are likely to impact our outputs of interest

parsimonious

models that seek to explain much with very few moving parts 

falsifiability

a critical feature of scientific theory in which a number of observations or arguments in support of a hypothesis would never be sufficient to suggest that the theory is valid.

null hypothesis

a hypothesis that predicts no relationship between two variables

clear

a strong model will introduce a _____ question and will be transparent with respect to its assumptions and presuppositions.

logically consistent

feature of a model in which it defines its concepts and carefully relating each concept to another with a logical causal story of how these concepts are related.

ideologically neutral 

does not inject personal political opinion in the place of carefully constructed theoretical logic

institutional analysis and development framework

attempts to understand how rational individuals’ choices are shaped by the policy context and rules that characterize their decision-making environment.

action arena

a domain within which the policy decisions of interest are made. the “social individuals interact, exchange goods and services, solve problems, dominate one another, or fight.”

actors

the individuals who are central to understanding the potential policy outcomes of interest.

rules

formal or informal agreements between actors regarding what actions are “required, prohibited, or permitted.”