Policy analysis midterm

What is public policy?

What the government chooses to do and not to do in response to a public problem

Why is context important in public policy?

it determines which problems rise to prominence, which policy solutions receive serious consideration and which actions are economically and politically feasible. For example, people believe that gun violence is a problem, but they cant agree on what the root problem is. Solutions change based on what the problem is

Size of American Government

The first ever congress had 65 reps and 25 senators and has grown since then to over 400 in both chambers. As the country gets bigger, the government grows with it

The small “big” government paradox

People like the idea if a small government. Citizens always want government intervention, but still want the government to be small (known as the submerged state). A lot of people don’t know that they are using government programs

Fragmentation and incrementalism

The government wants to make sure that one person or group doesn’t completely take over so they do this by slowing down the processes and makes it hard to get things done. (federalism and the separation of powers). Policies change incrementally over time and not drastically overnight

Evolution of federalism

Dual federalism era → Cooperative federalism era (after the New Deal) → New federalism era

Dual federalism era

clear boundaries of what federal and state governments do

Cooperative federalism era

After the Great Depression states needed federal assistance. Development of categorical grants – the government gives money to states, but restricts what it can be spent on. States start to get frustrated because they are dependent on the money and feel like they are loosing control

New federalism era

Development of block grants – states still get federal money, but they are given broad control over how it is spent

Pros of federalism

Allows for policy innovation – states can try policies on a smaller scale, so that other states and even the federal government can see what works and what doesn’t. States are also more responsive to citizens wants and needs more than the federal government is

Cons of federalism

there is a variation in policy performance, the amount of money influences the performance and quality of programs, interest groups and businesses have an influence over policies (capacity of the government influences have well they can fight off interest groups and businesses), less transparent (people don’t pay attention to or understand state politics) and cross boundary issues (we aren’t really separated from each other, one states laws can affect another state)

Role of legislative branch in the policy process

law making and budget. Includes congress, both the house and the senate. They are separated into committees that cover specific jurisdiction. They help congress manage their workload, helps members of congress develop their expertise in a specific area to better help constituents. This can also cause chaos with people arguing over who has jurisdiction over things and legislation can go to more than one committee which can cause conflict

Role of the executive branch in the policy process

carry out laws enacted by congress. The president appoints officials to bureaucracies, which help influence and control decisions. This branch also has the ability to issues executive orders (the president saying how the law should be interpreted). Bureaucracies also want to control certain policies, these agencies have different rules and jurisdictions that can contradict each other

Role of the courts in the policy process

interpreting policy decisions (often has the last word) both constitutionally and if it is enacted how intended. They are a reactive institution meaning that they have to wait until something is brought up to act on it. Their greatest power is being legit in the eyes of the people.

Role of public opinion in the policy process

The attention of the attentive public is what matters. The non-attentive public influences only the general direction of policy while the attentive public is only 10% and influences the details

Role of interest groups in the policy process

keep track of a small subset of interest tat affect them the most. People join interest groups because they do not feel represents by just 2 parties. Most of interest groups activity is aimed at blocking policies. They spend lost of money to talk to politicians and make sure that they are acting their interest

Role of the media in the policy process

Ideally the role is to inform about problems and solutions, tell us what the government is doing and keep us aware. The media can focus on one thing over another and can create biases on what we think. Infotainment – Focus on things that do not serve the public in order to get more viewership and clicks

When does policy change happen?

when problems (these have to be acknowledged and understood as a problem), proposals (having solutions in mind), and politics (elections, political culture etc. has to be right which is the most difficult to get) all converge, it creates a policy window

Problem definition and agenda setting

Problems must be defined in a way that gets the attention of the public and their political representatives, pushing that social problem into the political agenda. Many issues compete for attention, which results in many issues being neglected

Formulation

the development of proposed courses of action to help resolve a public problem. Policy analysis is a pivotal part of this step, as we evaluate a variety of solutions. Groups involved include legislators, chief executives, agency officials, staff, and interest groups

Legitimation

people have to believe a policy is law and follow that law. Giving legal force to decisions or authorizing or justifying policy action (passing the legislation, signed by executive, bureaucratic rules, judicial decisions). Official government actions don’t always mean that it is legit in the eyes of the public. For example, in Brown v. Board of Education, it took about 20 years for schools to be fully integrated. The public opinion was that schools shouldn’t be integrated, and the National Guard had to come in to enforce this law, which helped it move forward and gain legitimacy.

Implementation

The relevant bureaucracies and government actors implement policy once it has become law. This is where all the things needed to put the policy in place is. Most implementation occurs by action of bureaucracies. If bureaucrats do something that is against the law, there isn’t much the public can do. Most of the governmental processes happened in this stage.

Evaluation

questions if policies are meeting needs and doing what they are intended to do. Policies are evaluated by a number of political and non-political actors. Any measure can be used to evaluate a policy. For example, when looking at food assistance you can look at, people with food insecurity, how they were before and after SNAP and you can ask question about health outcomes (SNAP is supposed to improve health as well)

Elite theory

Emphasizes the ways the rich and powerful express advantage over policy. The rich and powerful have time, resources and power, so this makes us question if they are able to gain access that others cannot

Group theory/Pluralist Theory

Public policy is more of a market. If a product r policy is good people will support it and the opposite. This theory says that all groups/interest are not equal. Some have more power so it is not an equal conversation.

Institutional theory

Focuses on structures. Looks at the ways government are arranged, their legal powers and rules for decision making

Rational Choice Theory

Individuals are rational actors and seek the best outcome. For example, members of Congress are single-minded seekers of re-election so it is rational for them to focus on things that will get them re-elected

Political systems theory

Considers interrelationships of institutions and policy actors and the role of the larger environment. Inputs and outputs. What goes into the political system is what is output to create the law, but just because something is law doesn’t mean that it will be followed, which means we will have to go back to inputs. A cycle of inputs and outputs

What is policy analysis?

Process to compare government solutions to problems

What is the intention of policy analysis?

to inform a process

Rational decision-making model

Define problem, indicate goals, alternative solutions, evaluate consequences, recommend/choose alternatives that have the most probability of solving

Rational comprehensive approach

recognized all problems and all solutions and alternatives

Incremental decision making

limited number of alternatives and the affects

Policy analysis process

define and analyze the problem, construct policy alternatives, choose evaluative criteria, assess the alternatives, draw conclusions

Define and analyze the problem

to fully define a problem, we must identify its causes. Find out who is affected by the problem, how seriously, how long and how will it change over time. Here is where we figure out the goals and objectives

Construct Policy Alternatives

Asks what are the potential policy options, what are the tools that the government has (regulating, taxing and spending, education, etc.), and where are areas that the government can intervene and what they can do

Choose evaluative criteria

Asks how will we evaluate policy alternatives. Some primary concerns are effectiveness, efficiency, and equity.

Asses the alternatives

Asks which of several alternatives is going to produce a desired outcome, which outcome is most important. Have to think about what information makes sense for the specific audience

Draw conclusions

conclusions do not include a single policy action. Choices should be as objective as possible and the person/group chooses what they want

Types of policy analysis

scientific approaches, professional approaches, political approach

Scientific Approaches

Some people usually academics study policy simply to build knowledge. This approach seeks truth through scientific methods. Tends to be more rigorous and doesn’t really have restraints. Cons – information may not be relative

Professional Approaches

Policy analysts working in other places. Analyze policy alternatives for solving public problems for government agencies, think tanks, interest groups, etc. Some cons to this is that it has to be quick because it can be more biased than the scientific approach

Political approach

Analyses are aimed at advocating and supporting preferred policy alternatives. This helps represent values and can be both political and evidence-based. Some cons are that validity goes out of the window because of politics

What kinds of analysis is needed?

asks the question of if we should focus on root causes or pragmatic adjustments. We don’t always go for root causes because it isn’t identifiable, too difficult to tackle, too far or out of reach. Also asks if we should do a comprehensive analysis or short term policy relevance.

Components of policy analysis

Nature of problem, politics of problem definition, anticipating the future, causes and solutions, and finding information

Nature of problem

Definitions and measures. Asks what kind of data we need. When it comes to stats, we have to be careful because if you are missing information it can change how the results look. Some things may be difficult or undesirable to measure quantitatively

Politics of problem definition

Policy makers and interest groups will define problems in ways that make them more/less palatable to the public. Issue framing is important

Anticipating the future

asks what will the problem look like in several years or over time? Also asks how acceptable these predictions are? You have to acknowledge the assumptions that you are making. For example, you say “assuming that this stays the same…”

Identifying causes and solutions

Asks how the problem came about and why it continues. Most public problems have multiple causes and people disagree about which of the cases are most important to address.

Government tools to create solutions

authority tools, inducements and sanctions, capacity building/learning tools, and hortatory tools)

Authority tools

the government uses their power to urge or require people to act a certain way (rules and regulations)

Inducements and sanctions

The government provides incentives or penalties. Either encourages people to act in a certain way because they will benefit (inducement) or discourages behaviors (penalties)

Capacity-building/learning tools

the government makes education and training available top people in order to keep people aware and influence their decisions. Can also include influencing policy agents by bringing in the public for decision-making processes

Hortatory tools

kind of like propaganda. Anything that asks us to join together with a patriotic kind of effect

What are evaluative criteria?

The big 3 are Effectiveness, efficiency, and equity. Some others include liberty/freedom, feasibility, and social acceptability

Effectiveness

(measures very widely) Refers to the likelihood of a solution actually solving a problem

Efficiency

asks where we get the largest benefit for the least cost

Equity

fairness and justness in policy decisions. Asks who is going to pay for this and who is it going to serve

Cost-benefit analysis

identify all the important long and short-term cost and benefits, measure the tangible costs and benefits in monetary terms, make sure your values change in accordance with time, estimate tangible considerations (try to assign monetary amounts), total the costs and benefits (cost benefit ratio compares the benefits of one policy to another. A ratio of over 1 is good), then divide the benefits by costs

Drawbacks of Cost-benefit analysis

Measurement difficulties, it is hard to assign monetary value to intangible things. There is also a possibility of underestimating benefits especially in the long term because it is hard to know what will happen in the future. Also costs may simply be uncertain, change over time, etc.

Cost-effectiveness analysis

Comparison of policy alternatives in terms of a given benefit that is delivered (non-monetary). Instead of assigning monetary value to non-tangible things, we do things like “for every dollar we helped 5 people”

Drawbacks of cost-effectiveness analysis

Takes away the option to compare policies to each other, and the benefits are not comparable, which makes spending/prioritization decisions difficult.

Risk assessment

estimates the magnitude of the risk to citizens form exposure to certain situations. Uses Risk = probability x costs (R=P x C). Asks how likely something is to happen and what the cost of that is

Drawbacks of risk assessment

Heavy reliability on probability numbers, not enough data can warp our evaluation of risk, we cant anticipate everything, proven safety vs proven risk and the precautionary principle – we wait until we think something is safe to act on it.