Lecture Notes on Policy Implementation and Budgeting

Flashcards covering policy implementation, the budget cycle, and policy evaluation and change.

What is implementation in the context of policy?

The process affects the policy itself, and proper implementation requires multiple factors to work properly.

What are the types of policies ranked by ease of implementation?

These are policies ranked by ease of implementation: Routine, Craftsman, Conditional, and Creative (from easiest to hardest).

What is 'technology forcing' in policymaking?

Policymakers create policies requiring technologies that do not yet exist, hoping the policy requirements will force the technologies to be developed.

How can legislation without details cause problems for policy implementation?

It can be too vague for implementors to take action, or implementors might misinterpret it, and vagueness can cause problems for the courts and bureaucracies.

What is 'interest group liberalism'?

The public interest in legislation is defined in terms of different private interests.

Why can interest group liberalism be a problem for implementation?

Different private interests often have conflicting definitions of the public interest, making implementation difficult.

What are Hood's Five Characteristics of Perfect Administration?

Unitary administration, uniform norms and rules, no resistance to commands, perfect information and communication, and adequate time for implementation.

What are the central office-field office problems that contribute to organizational disunity?

People at the central office are more likely to be political appointees, while field office staff have direct contact with clients, increasing the likelihood of 'capture'.

What does NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) refer to?

This term describes the phenomenon where public participation can make it harder for a central office to coordinate implementation efforts, as local resistance arises to proposed actions in their area.

What are Standard Operating Procedures (SOP)?

Procedures where organizations do what they have done in the past, using experience as a guide.

What are the advantages of SOPs?

They speed up the process, are more fair and equitable, and implementors don't have to spend time figuring out what to do.

What are the disadvantages of SOPs?

New situations don't always fit the SOP, they can cause inappropriate responses, and it's hard to coordinate between agencies with different SOPs.

Why do communication blockages occur in organizations?

Decision-makers are at the top, but information is at the bottom, with information becoming distorted as it travels up due to error and 'selective distortion'.

How can communications be improved within an organization?

By getting people with similar backgrounds, improving socialization and training, having people more willing to talk to one another, reducing organizational levels, and creating multiple communication channels.

What is the Linear time problem?

The response to a problem lags behind the need for action.

What is Cyclical time problem?

Solutions implemented at one point in the cycle can exacerbate problems if they are implemented too late.

What are Horse-shoe-nail problems?

Missing details early on can snowball into larger problems later in the process.

What are clearance points?

The places in the implementation process where you need to get approval to continue. More clearance points make policy implementation harder.

What is a vertical implementation structure?

A structure that goes from the federal to state to local levels.

What are the problems with a horizontal implementation structure?

Communication can be difficult, perceptual blinders exist, and groups often compete for resources, leading to a lack of coordination.

What happens during the 'Agency Requests' step of the budget cycle?

Agencies figure out how much money they need for the upcoming fiscal year, considering estimates from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).

What balancing roles do agencies in the budget process play?

They need to promote themselves and their programs while remembering they are part of the executive branch.

What are the key steps in the executive review process of the budget?

The process involves the OMB review of agency requests, a hearing, a 'director's review', and final review by the president.

When is the budget sent to Congress?

The president's budget is sent to Congress within 15 days of Congress convening in January.

What is a current services budget?

A budget that shows how much it would cost next year to do just what the government is doing now, without adding new programs or significant changes.

What is the process that Congress takes when looking at the budget?

The budget is sent to the appropriations committees of each house. It's then broken up and looked at by various subcommittees who make up appropriations bills.

What does the Congressional Budget Act require before voting?

That ALL appropriations bills be marked up before any of them can be voted upon by the full House or Senate.

What does the concurrent resolution establish?

Establishes a budget ceiling, a revenue floor, and the overall thinking motivating the appropriations bills.

Why are reconciliation bills sometimes used to pass major policies?

These are sometimes used to pass major policies because they cannot be filibustered in the Senate.

What are continuing resolutions?

Temporary funding measures that allow agencies to continue operating, usually at previous funding levels, until full appropriations bills are passed.

Who creates and signs the appropriations warrant?

The Treasury makes up the warrant, and the GAO signs it, and it's then sent to each agency.

Why are funds usually distributed on a quarterly basis?

Quarterly distribution allows the OMB to exercise control and prevent agencies from spending all the money at once.

What is impoundment?

The president not spending money allocated by Congress.

What is rescission?

A cancellation of budget authority to spend money.

What is deferral?

A delay in spending the money.

Who determines whether an impoundment action is a rescission or deferral?

The Comptroller General (head of GAO) can make that call.

What happens during the 'Budget Control' step?

The GAO does a post-expenditure audit each year detailing how expenditures have deviated from congressional intent.

How much was the federal deficit in FY 2024 according to the Treasury Department?

According to the Treasury Department, the federal deficit in FY 2024 was $1.83 trillion.

How much was the national debt as of April 5, 2025, according to the Treasury Department?

According to the Treasury Department, the national debt as of April 5, 2025, was approximately $36.22 trillion.

What are uncontrolled outlays (expenditures)?

Payments the government must make by law, constituting just under three-quarters of the federal budget.

What is back door spending?

Expenditures made without going through the budget process.

What is borrowing authority?

It allows an agency to borrow money from the Treasury instead of having Congress appropriate it.

What is contract authority?

An agency makes a contract that requires spending money, thereby committing the government.

What are permanent appropriations?

This is where legislation requires money to be spent. An example given is the interest on the national debt, which accounts for roughly 13% of total outlays.

What is Overhang?

Budget Authority minus Outlay.

What is Budget Authority?

The amount the Congress has appropriated in a given year.

What is Outlay?

What is actually spent in a given year.

What is reprogramming?

Shifting authority from one program to another within the same account.

What is a transfer?

Shifting authority from one account to another.

What are supplemental appropriations?

Money provided to cover shortfalls, often due to unexpected events such as floods or wars.

What does incrementalism mean in budgeting?

Small changes from year to year in the budget.

Incrementalism makes budget process allocation predictable. What does that mean?

What an agency is going to get in the future can be estimated by looking at what it has gotten in the past.

Which are more incremental: agency budgets or program budgets?

Agency budgets show incrementalism, but program budgets can vary more from year to year.

Which is more incremental: the controllable part of the budget or the uncontrollable part of the budget?

The uncontrollable part of the budget is more incremental than the controllable part.

Why is incrementalism seen as having a continuing 'ratcheting-up' effect on spending?

Because it is often hard to reverse spending decisions, leading to a continuing 'ratcheting effect' on spending.

What is a Biennial budget?

Instead of an annual budget, it is a two-year budget.

What does it mean to create a capital budget?

One budget for current needs and one for capital investments whose benefits extend into the future.

What is a Line-item veto?

It would allow the president to veto individual line items in the budget. Currently, the president can only veto the entire budget.

What is a balanced budget amendment?

It would require that the federal budget be balanced each year.

What is Zero-Base Budgeting (ZBB)?

Sets the base line at zero, requiring the entire budget of any program or agency to be justified.

What are the advantages of zero-based budgeting?

Some advantages are that it makes it easier to eliminate obsolete programs and agencies and it keeps the budget from naturally inflating over time.

What are the disadvantages of zero-based budgeting?

Some disadvantages are that it is more time consuming than traditional budgeting. Also, since ZBB threatens the whole existence of programs and agencies, bureaucrats and their clientele tend to fight it more.

Why is it a potential problem that multiple factors may be at work when evaluating policy with social science analysis?

It is hard to isolate any one factor. This makes it difficult to determine which specific factor, or perhaps the policy being evaluated, is causing observed outcomes.

Why is it a potential problem that Many policy areas have had multiple policies enacted over time with social science analysis?

Past policies might be having an impact now, and these impacts can be hard to separate from the effects of current policies.

What are the Experimental problems with social science analysis?

People know if they're being watched and they may modify their behavior because they know they are being observed.

Why is it hard to achieve policy goals when policy evaluating?

It can be difficult to identify what the goals are, goals can be impossible or contradictory, and goals can shift over time.

What is goal displacement?

Occurs when the goal shifts from the original goals to the goals of self-preservation and aggrandizement for the organization.

What is the difference between stated goals and operational goals?

The reasons given for doing something, while the operational goals are the ones that are actually pursued.

Why can having specific goals be a problem?

Too much detail can straightjacket people. Limiting flexibility in this way can prevent implementers from finding more effective and efficient ways to achieve the desired ends.

What is the most popular surrogate to measure accurately?

The most popular surrogate measure is the level of activity.

Explain how that can be a problem if who is doing the evaluation

Different groups are interested in different things when measuring. They will tend to focus only on the measurements that they are interested in.

Why is it difficult to identify if the goals are reaching the target

Identifying the target population can be a problem.

What is “creaming”?

Is when the people used in an evaluation are special cases, not representative of the real target population. Consequently, the results look better than they would be otherwise.

What do politicians do with regard to evaluation?

Politicians will focus on what applies to them and their constituents, and ignore the rest.

What is tactical research?

Is when you design the research to get a pre-desired result.

What is output-based evaluation?

Over the last several decades, there has been an increasing emphasis on output-based evaluation, which means you look at what government organizations do and their effects. The idea is to see if programs are really contributing to the public good.

What is policy maintenance?

The policy stays the same.

What is policy termination?

Discontinue the policy.

How does policy change compare to creating a new policy?

Getting on the agenda is easier because the issue is already known; formulation and legitimation are often more difficult because preexisting clientele will tend to resist change.

What is a “sunset provision”?

A sunset provision means that after some fixed time, a policy or program comes up for reevaluation and will terminate unless further action is taken.