PLCY210 Exam Review Flashcards

Flashcards summarizing key concepts from PLCY 210 lectures, focusing on policy innovation and analysis.

Social Discount Rate

Used to discount future benefits and costs back to present values. A dollar today is worth more than a dollar next year because of potential investment opportunities.

Net Present Value (NPV)

How much something is worth today, considering future costs or benefits. It's the present value of all benefits minus the present value of all costs.

Constant Elasticity Specification

Used to value how much an additional dollar is worth across the income distribution in Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA).

Sensitivity Analysis

Used to assess how sensitive a policy recommendation is to changes in assumptions, under- or overestimation of costs or benefits, or any other parameter of the analysis.

Policy Alternative

An option, solution, strategy, or intervention to solve, mitigate, or improve a public problem.

"Do Nothing" Alternative

Also referred to as 'let present trends continue undisturbed,' acknowledging that natural change may affect the underlying problem even without additional policy intervention.

Criteria

Goals, values, or standards used for evaluating the results of policy actions, applied to the projected outcomes/impacts of policy alternatives.

Principal Objective

The main goal to be maximized or minimized when addressing a policy problem. Criteria should target this and consider tradeoffs among competing alternatives.

Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA)

A process where the benefits of a project are tallied up and compared to its costs, converting all gains and losses into monetary values.

Opportunity Costs

The value of what has to be given up in order to pursue an activity. CBA values inputs or outputs using their opportunity cost.

Cost-Effectiveness Analysis (CEA)

Ranks policies based on their costs for achieving some defined objective, evaluating the efficiency of various options for achieving a goal.

Policy Implementation

How an administrative agency interprets a policy and puts it into effect.

Clearance Points

The number of individual decision points that must be agreed to before any policy intentions can be put into action.

Meta-criteria

Characteristics that define a 'good' criterion, including importance, understandability, specificity, focus on ends, measurability, comprehensiveness, independence, and conciseness.

Common (Broad) Criteria

Typical evaluation factors, including effectiveness, efficiency, equity, political feasibility, ease of implementation, and unintended/adverse consequences.

Equality of Outcomes

all individuals achieving similar results in terms of wealth, resources, and opportunities.

Equality of Opportunities

The principle that every individual should have the same chance to pursue their goals and access resources, regardless of their background or circumstances. Same starting point

Shadow Pricing

assigning opportunity cost to resources with no obvious price

Contingent Valuation

Use a hypothetical situation to ask people how much something is worth

Revealed Preference

Determines price by observing consumer choices in actual market situations.

Hedonic Market analysis

isolate value of specific intangible cost and guess

Natural Experiment

treatment occurs naturally/unplanned

Random sample

Raises concerns about validity

Selection Bias

occurs when the sample is not representative of the population, leading to skewed results.

Self-selection bias

occurs when individuals select themselves into a group, leading to a lack of randomization and potential biases in the study results.

Survivorship bias

occurs when only successful subjects (not dead) are considered, ignoring those that did not succeed. This can lead to an overly optimistic view of outcomes.

Simple random sample

A sampling method where each member of the population has an equal chance of being selected, ensuring representativeness.

Systemic Sample

A sampling method where members are selected at every nth from a sorted list or population,

Cluster Sample

A sampling method where the population is divided into clusters, and entire clusters are randomly selected for the sample.

Stratified Sample

A sampling method where the population is divided into subgroups and random samples are taken from each to ensure representation

Nonprobability Sample

Convenience sample or judgement sample (snowball sample)

Internal Validity

Conclusions drawn from the experiment may not reflect what actually happened

External Validity

Conclusions may not be able to be generalized to world, bad sample

Causality

Has the correct order of events

Non-zero correlation\relationship exists

No confounding variables

Tractability

Magnitude of the problem, complexity

Tangibility

Can people see\feel the problem

Severity

Is it important enough for the problem to be solved by the government

Anonymity

Neither researchers nor readers can identify the person

Confidentiality

Researchers know the participants, but readers do not

Justice Theoretical Framework

Are costs and benefits distributed fairly?

Rights Theoretical Framework

Is the action morally right/does the government have the ability to do so, little concern with the consequences

Utility Theoretical framework

What are the consequences of those directly and indirectly affected?

Greatest good for the most amount of people

Social Problem

undesired state and governmental intervention is appropriate due to its impact on the well-being of individuals or communities. These issues often require collective action to address.

Fiscal Plane

geographical place that is at the overlap of multiple governments and has the ability to tax/spend

Has to help citizens

Constrained legally, procedurally, and administratively

Fiscal Centralization

fraction of fiscal activity that takes place at higher level of government

Administrative Burden

challenges of accessing public benefits, weakens the policy

Can be made purposefully or by accident

Learning Costs (Admin)

Unaware of the policy, having to apply for benefits

Psychological Costs

Stigma and stress behind the application for benefits

Compliance Costs

following the programs rules and having to show the right documents

Redemption Costs

the expenses involved in obtaining or redeeming benefits after eligibility has been determined.