critical policy issues exam

What makes up congress?

Senate and House of Representatives

What makes up the executive branch?

President, Vice president, and federal bureaucracy

What is federalism?

A broader system of shared power between the federal and state governments, in which dual and cooperative federalism lie.

What’s granted power?

Power that is explicitly given to the federal government and barred from the state government. Example: Printing money

what is reserved power?

Power that is reserved for the state government. Example: Obtaining Drivers License

What are concurrent powers?

Powers that are shared between the federal and state governments (or smaller administrative units). Example: National parks and state parks

What are pure public goods?

Goods that everyone can enjoy (joint consumption) and where exclusion is not feasible.

What is national defense an example of?

Pure public good

Which good are public parks an example of?

Pure public goods

Which good is air or water an example of?

Common pool resources

What are common pool resources?

Resources where there is no joint consumption, meaning that one person’s consumption could prevent another person from being able to consume. These resources are also hard to exclude from. Example: Fisheries

Which good is grazing land an example of?

Common pool resources

Which good is wildlife an example of?

Common pool resources

What is a private good?

Goods for which exclusion is feasible and there is no joint consumption; therefore, private companies can capitalize on these goods. Example: Houses

What are cars an example of?

Pure private goods

Which good are computers an example of?

Pure private goods

What are toll goods?

Goods where exclusion is possible, but one person’s consumption does not prevent another from consuming the good.

Which good are cable TV services an example of?

Toll goods

Explain dual federalism.

Where state and federal governments have distinct yet separate functions, however, the federal government often holds more power.

What is cooperative federalism?

Where government power is not concentrated at any level.

What type of federalism is this an example of: No child left behind

Dual federalism because the federal government imposed a mandate that was maintained by states/schools

What type of federalism is this an example of: The federal government provisioning tax revenues to state governments for interstate highways, while states govern the construction and maintenance of the highways.

Cooperative federalism because the federal government is not mandating anything, but they are providing states with the means to improve the state infrastructure.

Why is there a gray are in monetizing public goods?

Because it can often be considered unethical/immoral yet there are goods like bottled water and services like uber charging surge pricing during hurricanes that are allowed to exist.

Who makes up the House of Representatives?

435 members and Speaker of the house

Who makes up the senate?

100 members and Vice President

Who makes up the executive branch?

The president and 15 cabinet members

Who makes up the judiciary branch?

9 justices and the Chief Justice

What does Congress do?

A legislative body (political institution that upholds law-making power) that has two chambers (bicameral), the House and the Senate, that have the policy-making authority to pass laws, set budgets, and approve presidential appointments or treaties.

What legislative body approves declarations of war?

Congress

What legislative body is responsible for impeachment?

Congress

What does the executive branch do?

Veto legislation (president) but can be overridden if House and Senate have 2/3rd majority, oversee federal agencies (15 cabinet departments), execute laws, and appoint admin and judges.

What legislative body has the power to enter into treaties?

Executive branch, for example President Biden rejoined the Paris Agreement during his time in office.

What does the judiciary branch do?

Separated into 3 levels, Supreme court, Court of Appeals, and District Court, the judiciary branch reviews laws for their constitutionality

What legislative body is appointed for life (on good behavior)?

Judiciary

What legislative body is appointed by the President and approved by the Senate?

Judiciary

Why is there a separation of powers between the executive, judiciary, and congress? And what is a common pitfall as a result of it?

Checks and balances, in other words there must be shared power, so that different branches of government can prevent the actions of other branches. However, a common pitfall is that there can be great difficulty in passing laws that satisfy the needs of the people (policy gridlock).

What is like a layer cake?

Dual federalism, there are separate layers or functions of the state and federal government, but the federal government is the top layer or holds more power.

What is like a marble cake?

Cooperative federalism, there is no government that holds more power than the other, they are a mixture of the same entity.

What are concurrent powers?

Overlapping services between the federal and state authority like building bridges or having the power to tax.

What is Dillon’s rule?

Local governments which have no authority except for those expressly granted to them by the state. The state legislature can create, dissolve, and modify local governments at will. Example, Virginia and 30 others.

What are home rule states?

States where local governments are granted extensive authority, similar to a national-state relationship. Example: South Carolina and 9 others.

What is a special district?

A single/limited purpose government with a variety of powers.

What would a school district constitute as?

A special district because they typically have someone who is directly elected serving on a board. They are also dependent on property taxes and state/federal transfers to run.

What is the elite theory?

A theory proposing that elites dominate the government and control authority, rendering public opinion insignificant while emphasizing the importance of expert knowledge.

What is interest group theory?

A theory that proposes instead of listening to representatives, politicans listen to dominant interest groups. These interest groups shape policy and lead to incremental change. Interest groups can also be big industries.

What theory would gun control policy fall under?

Interest group theory

What is institutional theory?

The theory that institutions dominate policymaking. Institutions can be cultural or religious, like the church.

What is rational choice theory?

A theory where economists believe that policymaking is conducted by individual policy actors who are only self-interested.

What is the political systems theory?

The theory that politics is a system with inputs and outputs. These inputs can be from news media, foreign countries, or politicians. The outputs are what the government response is to the inputs. A limitation to this policymaking theory is that it’s seen as passive and reactive.

True or false? Multiple theories can be right about a given situation, so there is no perfect theory because they all have different lenses and limitations.

True

What is the limitation of elite theory?

It is not always successful. We can see this when we look at the case of experts in climate change not dominating policy development.

What is a limitation of interest group theory?

The role of interest groups in policymaking could be seen as exaggerated.

What is a limitation for institutional theory?

The institutions and rules from them can obstruct policymaking.

What is a limitation for rational choice theory?

It does not account for collective interests such as making a decision because it is the right thing to do.

What is the 1st step in the policy issue cycle?

Defining the problem or agenda setting, which involves looking at how people feel about the most important issues. The government has limited time and attention to address everything, so it’s important to prioritize and define the problem.

What is the 2nd step in the policy issue cycle?

Creating a solution through the utilization of policy instruments such as regulation.

What is the 3rd step in the policy issue cycle?

The policy being passed by a legislative body for state policies it would be the state legislatures. If it’s not passed, it’s just a proposal.

What is the 4th step in the policy issue cycle?

Implementing the policy by spending money, passing laws, and forming regulations. However, sometimes policies fail due to implementation, not design.

True or false? Racial bias occurring at a stop for “speeding” is a policy design failure.

False, that is an implementation failure

What is the 5th step in the policy issue cycle?

Evaluating the policy and deciding if it must change (some parts work), be terminated (causing chaos), or continue as is (going well).

How does regulation work as a policy instrument?

Regulation allows the government to require or prevent individuals from certain actions, such as the FDA regulations

What type of policy instrument would the ADA act be?

Regulation is essential as it ensures public administration, jobs, transportation, and government services provide equal opportunities for people with disabilities.

How does government management work as a policy instrument?

Government directly provides the goods or services to you such as schooling, Medicare, and the library. They can also contract services like vaccines or shredding sensitive documents and transfer operation of public services to private sectors like the airport.

What type of policy instrument would the military count as?

Government management

How does taxes and spending work as a policy instrument?

Spending serves as a transfer payment to citizens and taxes can encourage or discourage activites.

What type of policy instrument is the cigarette tax?

Taxes and spending. Cigarettes count as the Sin tax, where products are deemed harmful to individuals and therefore are supposed to discourage them from buying these goods.

What type of policy instrument is the COVID aid?

Taxes and spending. The goal of the COVID aid or stimulus checks was to provide emergency assistance, and health care response to people. It also aimed to serve as a large-scale solution to the economic damage.

How are market mechanisms a policy instrument?

Governed by the power of supply and demand which determines the price and quantity of goods traded. For example, carbon trading is used as a way to control green has emission while pricing them at the same time. This is because countries are provided with an economic incentive to reduce their environmental footprint. However, countries can buy carbon units if they are emitting more than they are allowed, and therefore it’s more questionable in practice because Western companies don’t have to bear the brunt of the effects of the pollution they create.

How is education, information, and persuasion a policy instrument?

Governments can attempt to educate citizens and persuade them to change their behavior. They can also use public information campaigns such as the smokey bear campaign.