padp

Chapter 6 Notes:

• Commentators and policymakers at all levels of government raised questions about access to energy sources and their costs; national security implications of U.S. dependence on imported oil; environmental, health, and safety risks of energy exploration, development, and use; the role of government and regulation; and the importance of economic imcentives for energy development.

Evaluative Criteria For Judging Policy Proposals:

• Evaluative criteria are the specific dimensions of policy objectives that can be used to weigh policy options or judge the merits or existing policies or programs.
• The dimensions of policy objectives that are most often the target of inquiry and political argument include effectiveness, efficiency, risks, uncertainty, ethics, political feasibility, administrative feasibility, equity or fairness, liberty or freedom, legality, and (sometimes) constitutionality. These are the most politically important standards used to judge policy proposals today.
• Analysts normally use several indicators to compensate for the limitations of any of the previously mentioned criteria.
• Most policy debates resemble the battles over energy policy and gasoline prices; they involve multiple competing criteria.

Effectiveness:

• For a program already in existence, evaluation of its effectiveness usually turns on whether it has achieved the expected results or policy outcomes.
• Example: In 2019, professional transportation analysts considered self-driving cars a serious option for the future, and some vehicles, such as Tesla cars with Autopilot, already have much of this capability.
• The view of effectiveness is a little narrow because programs usually have multiple goals and objectives and may succeed at some and fall short on others.
• The federal Government Performance and Results Act of 1993 requires regular evaluations of all existing programs and demonstrations of their performance or achievements.
• The economic recession that began in 2008 and subsequent soaring budgetary deficits reinforced these expectations at both the federal and state levels.
• Analysts who evaluate policy proposals in terms of likely effectiveness or who try to measure the achievements of existing programs therefore find a ready audience for their assessments.

Efficiency:

• Efficiency is a way of justifying government action based on economic concepts.
• Sometimes efficiency is expressed in terms of the relative virtues of government intervention and the operation of a free market in promoting social welfare.
• Policymakers may choose to reduce an agency’s spending because it is politically popular to do so even when that action saves no money.
• For regulatory policies, the larger society receives the benefits, but the corporate owners bear the costs, and for policies like subsidies or subsidized tuition, all taxpayers bear the costs.

Equity:

• Equity has two different meanings in contemporary policy debates: process equity and outcomes (end-result) equity. The first refers to the decision-making process that is used (whether it is voluntary, open, and fair to all participants)
• John Rawls promoted a different conception oof equity in his book A Theory of Justice (1971). He argued that equity or fairness refers to just the outcomes or the fair distribution of societal goods such as wealth, income, and political power.
• Tax reform measures are certain to be part of the discussion of deficit spending in terms of economic inequity (ex: should the estate tax be kept and applied to most families out of concern for social equity and sound fiscal policy, or should it be repealed?)

Ethics and Political Values:

• Some political scientists argue that it is unnecessary or even improper for policy analysts to include ethical or normative dimensions in their work.
• Normative issues, however, deserve serious consideration. Anderson argues that analysis that ignores basic issues such as the role of government authority, individual rights, or the public interest is incomplete and inadequate.
• Policy debates over personal property, property rights, copyright laws, research on human stem cells derived from embryos, and many other issues require an assessment in terms of normative and legal criteria, not just economics
• There are many different bases of which to analyze policy
• Promoting the public’s welfare imposes a cost on individuals and corporations.
• A recent decision in election law illustrates the importance of how these competing criteria, particularly the right to free speech and the broader public welfare, are used and assessed.
• Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission: Spending money on election campaigns is a form of protected free speech under the First Amendment.
• Corporations and unions cannot give the money directly to candidates, but they can spend as much as they desire on TV and other ads intended to influence voters.
• MtCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission: the Court struck down long-established limits on what one person could donate to federal candidates and political parties in each election cycle

Using Methods of Policy Analysis:

• The section of the chapter surveys the most frequently used methods of policy analysis and highlights their strengths and most significant weaknesses or limitations
• It should be clear that public policy evaluation is about more than economics
• The overview of analytic methods that follows groups them into four categories: Economic approaches that include cost-benefit analysis, cost effective analysis, and risk assessment methods. Another is decision making and impacts, which includes forecasting and impact assessment. A third is political and institutional analysis. The last category is ethical analysis, where the concern is consideration of the ethics of policy action.

Economic Approaches:

• Cost-Benefit Analysis: Also called the benefit cost analysis. A form of policy analysis in which the costs and benefits of proposed policy actions are considered carefully. Often, although not alyways, the major costs and benefits are measured quantitatively by their value in dollars. The analyst identifies all the important long-term and short-term costs and benefits, measures the tangible costs and benefits in monetary terms, uses a discount rate, which adjusts for changes in value over time, to ensure that all expressed in commensurable terms, estimates the intangible or qualitative considerations, and aggregates or totals, the costs and benefits.
• Opportunity costs: Common in economic analysis; one considers the value of opportunities that are forgone when time or resources are spent on a given activity. It is what people might have done with the same time or resources if they had the choice.
• Discount rate: A calculation made in conducting cost-benefit analysis that takes into account the changing value of a dollar over time. Future costs and benefits are “discounted” to present value by using estimated inflation rates.Using a discount rate allows analysis to determine the value of future benefits today, but the choice of the rate can have a profound impact on the results
• Contingent valuation methods: The use of surveys to determine the economic value that people place on certain goods or services for which there is no market value.
• Sensitivity analysis: A way to adjust policy analysis by making it sensitive or responsive to changes in any one variable so that consequences can be better understood under varying assumptions.
• Cost-Effective Analysis: Requires no measurements of the value of intangible benefits such as human lives. A comparison of the relative value of policy alternatives in terms of a given benefit that is delivered; a method for comparing policy alternatives when a dollar value cannot easily be placed on the benefits of action.
• Risk Assesment: Purpose is to identify, estimate, and evaluate the magnitude of the risk to citizens from exposure to various situations such as terrorism, natural hazards, etc., (R=PxC, the higher the possibility of the event or exposure, the higher the consequences, the higher the risk).
• Risk evaluation: Use of various methods to determine the level of risk that is acceptable to the public and policymakers.
• Risk management: Describes public policies that are adopted to manage or control risks.

Decision Making and Impacts:

• Forecasting: A procedure for producing factual information about future states of society based on the basis of prior information about policy problems.
• Impact Assesment: A form of policy analysis that examines the likely effects or impacts of proposed or adopted policies. There may be environmental, social, economic, or other significant impacts. Job impact studies are one kind of this.

Political and Instititutional Approaches:

• Political Feasibility Analysis: The extent to which elected officials and other policy actors support the change. Asife from partisan differences, interest group influence can make even broadly supported public policy actions unlikely to be successful (ex: After the shootings at Sandy Hook, Obama mounted a campaign to improve gun safety laws, with emphasis on criminal background checks for all gun sales; resinstatement of a ban on assault weapons, and limiting ammunition magazines to ten rounds; however he was unable to secure congressional approval).

Implementation Analysis and Program Evaluation:

• Implementation analysis: A form of policy analysis that examines the process and effects of implementing public policy and it can be used to anticipate likely implementation problems prior to adoption or to document actual problems after a policy has been put into effect.
• Program Evaluation: Focuses more on policy results or outcomes than on the process of implementation, but the two go together. Evaluation of any program may be an essential part of long-term implementation success, and there are many different ways to evaluate a program.

Ethical Analysis:

• Policy analysis that is based on ethical principles or norms, such as personal freedom or equality. It can supplement analysis based largely on economic, political, or administrative concerns.
• Some comtemporary policy issues, from how to deal with illegal immigration to human cloning and embryonic stem-cell research, raise comparable ethical concerns. One example is the Trump administration beginning to seperate children from their families as one way to deter immigrants from crossing the border of seeking asylum. Another example is in 2019, many states had adopted laws to govern research on embryos and fetuses, and some of them chose to ban any experiments involving human embryos.

Conclusions:

• Policy analysis is both a craft and an art. The craft comes in knowing the methods of policy analysis and how to apply them in specific situations.
• The art of policy analysis lies in selecting suitable criteria for policy assessments, in recognizing the limitations of the available methods, and in drawing and reporting on appropriate conclusions. An artful policy analyst recognizes and is sensitive to the public mood and the political and institutional context in which the analysis is conducted and reported.
• Some critics of policy analysis complain that analysts tend to view politics – that is, public opinion, interest group activity, and the actions of policymakers – as an obstacle to adopting the fruits of their labors, which they believe represent a rational, and therefore, superior assessment of the situation.

March 12-Evaluative Criteria and Assessing Policy Alternatives Notes:

Steps to Policy Analysis:

1. Define and analyze the problem
2. Construct policy alternatives
3. Choose evaluative criteria
4. Assess the alternatives
5. Draw conclusions

Assessing Alternatives:

• Fundamentally involves critical thinking of intended and unintended consequence
• Silicon Valley Bank: The bank has almost unworthy assets, so when people tried to take money from the bank, it led to the bank going bankrupt

Evaluative Criteria:

• Virtually every serious policy debate involves competing criteria
• Which matter or are more important
• Existence and quality of evidence that allow us to evaluate policy against those criteria
• Avoid “analysis paralysis”

Effectiveness:

• Will the policy achieve its objective?

- What is the objective?

- Ouputs or outcomes?

• Or quantify the impact and let others judge if it is sufficient.
• Likely that problem statement and objective entail qualitative descriptions

- Decrease/minimize something

- Increase/maximize something

• Need to identify metrics for those descriptions (operationalize)
• A timeframe is also preferable

Efficiency:

• Benefit of policy relative to its cost
• More good than harm? The greater the difference between the two the better
• Example: FDA and e-cigarettes/vaping

Equity:

• Equality: Sameness
• Equity: Proportional according to circumstance

- Unequal menas to reach more equal ends

• Kraft and Furlong differentiate between process (opportunity) and outcomes (equity)

Equity, Equality, Justice:

• Property rights
• Regulations removing racial bias in home loan approval
• Universal basic income
• Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)
• Income tax rates that increase with income

Policy Questions Regarding Equity:

• Who receives benefits and who does not?
• Who pays the cost and who does not?
• What dimensions of “who” matter?

- Income or wealth

- Race and ethnicity

- Gender

- Zip code, urban/rural

Outcomes Matrix:

• Typically includes 2-5 policy alternatives
• If too complicated, simplify
• Should provide a transition to conclusions

Methods of Policy Analysis:

• Economic
• Decision making and impacts
• Political and institutional
• Ethical

Economic Methods-CBA

• Cost-benefit analysis: A monetized pros-and-cons list
• Steps:

1. ID which sosts or benefits to include
2. Monetize them or admit you cannot
3. Discount future benefits or costs
4. Sum each and compare

• Monetizing for CBA-What is the monetary value of a human life?
• Cost effectiveness analysis: monetize costs but not benefits (provides cost per unit of benefit)
• Benefits are typically harder to monetize than (direct) costs
• Does not tell us if a policy is worth doing
• Can help to compare policies
• Two Randomized Trials conducted in Kenya
• Educational Program-focusing on having more kids go to school to prevent the spread of HIV because 25% of infections occur in people under age 25. This program included trained professionals teaching 8th grade students detailed HIV risks/information. Decreased teen pregnancy by 1.5% and cost per participant is 133 KES
• Uniform Subsidy program - due to the uniform subsidy program, the amount of teenage pregnancy decreased by 2.7% and the cost per participant is 2,083 KES
• Educational Program decreased 18 teen pregnancies, and uniform subsidy decreased 34. This program provides two school uniforms each year during grades 6-8 to reduce the cost of attendance when dropout rates are highest
• The program that is more cost effective is the educational program, but the most efficient is the uniform subsidy program.

Economic Methods-Risk Assessment:

• Risk Assessment - identify, estimate, and evaluate magnitude of risk exposure
• Determine how much risk is acceptable
• Estimating risk involves expected value
• Expected value example: You have a ⅓ change of winning 150 dollars and ⅔ chance of losing 60 dollars, if expected value is positive you should take it, if negative you shouldn’t take it
• EV=⅓ x 150 + ⅔ x -60 = 50 - 40 = 10

Decision Trees:

• Used by working backwards multiplying each outcome by probabilities until root decision is reached.

Decision Making and Impacts:

• Forecasting:

- Develop a range of possible quantities of the outcome based on a scenario

- Best-case, worst-case comparison

• Impact assessments:

- A more focused analysis of the effect(s) a certain action may generate

• Political feasibility analysis:

- Use of some method that predicts the probability of support/passage

• Implementation analysis

- Implementation is responsibility of administrative agencies

- Usually receives the least attention

Ethical Analysis:

• Systematic examination of ethical issues

- Racial profiling

- Organ donation

- Impact on future generations

• Scientific and professional analysts may find this problematic
• Some argue ethical analysis is the job of the political process

March 14th Notes:

Chapter 6

CBA:

• Monetized pros and cons list

Steps:

1. ID which costs or benefits to include
2. Monetize them or admit you cannot
3. Discount future benefits or costs
4. Sum each and compare; make decisions

CBA Decision Measures:

• Net benefits = total benefits - total costs

- How much benefit in excess of cost

- Measures efficiency but also emphasizes impact

• Benefit-cost ratio = total benefits divided by total costs

- How many $ in benefits per $1 in cost

- Emphasizes efficiency

Discounting Costs or Benefits:

• When making decisions in the current year, in order to make fair comparisons across alternatives there would need to be a discount on future values

Discount Example:

• A government agency must choose between two projects
• Project 1 yields benefits of $10,500 four years from now
• Project 2 yields $5,500 four years from now and an addition $5,400 five years from now
• Which project should be chosen assuming a discount rate of 8%?

Discount Benefits and Costs:

• The present value of a future value of benefit: PV=FV(1+r) to the square root of t
• Where r equals the discount rate and t equals the number of time periods in the future

Types of Policy Decisions:

1. Should a single policy be accepted or rejected?

• Approve the project if net benefits are greater than zero
• Benefit-cost ratio will be greater than 1

1. If forced to choose one policy as opposed to a set of alternatives what should be approved?

• Choose the option with the highest net benefits

1. What is the optimal size of a budget covering multiple projects?
2. Which one or more projects should be approved within a fixed budget?

Chapter 7 Notes:

• One way to reduce the deficit in deficit policy is by decreasing spending on government programs
• Government can address deficits by turning to the revenue side of the equation (an increase in tax revenue of a user fee for entry into a national park for example)
• Conservatives have traditionally been more interested in cutting spending than raising revenue, but there has not been much concern given ot the deficit in recent years where there has been continued spending and tax policies that have decreased revenue
• Programs such as Medicare and Social Security face dire financial straits in the future attributable to increasing demands by the very large baby boom generation that has begun to retire
• The economic health of the nation and more specific concerns such as the federal deficit are highly dynamic, and can change dramatically in a short period of time
• For much of the latter part of the twentieth century, the federal deficit dominated discussions regarding economic policy, and had major impacts on the nation’s capacity to support other policy actions
• The general public doesn’t connect actions such as tax cuts with attepts to influence economic growth or unemployment. Such attention is given to the Federal Reserve Board’s monetary policy and its impact on the economy that the public tends to forget that government’s fiscal poicies also have major impacts on the economy
• Economic policy is the development of programs and policies that are intended to afect economic condistions in the nation, like reducing unemployment or increasing economic growth.
• The government uses fiscal policy (the sum of all taxation and spending policies–as well as the monetary policy tools of the Federal Reserve Board in order to achieve its economic goals
• Business regulation has increased in the 60s-70s, as citizens demanded more government assurances that health, safety, and the environment would be protected

Goals of Economic Policy:

• Policymakers try to promote various goals and objectives in relation to economic policy

Economic Growth-

• Economic growth means an increase in the production of goods and services each year, and is expressed in terms of a rising gross domestic product. Such growth typically means that, on average, people’s incomes increase from year to year
• A low rate of economic growth can be a sign of an impending recession, which is generally defined as negative growth over two or more consecutive quarters
• Economic growth may make redistributive programs palatable because people are more likely to accept policies that redirect some of their money to others if they have experienced an increase in their own wealth
• Percent changes in the GDP over the past 20 years have ranged from a low of -2.0 in 2009 to a high of 6.7 in 2005
• The rate of growth since 2010 has remained somewhat consistent at 3.5-5.4% per year in current dollars–that is unadjusted for inflation
• High levels of growth cause wages to go up; and, if people have more money, they can spend more on houses, cars, and other goods.
• Higher prices usually follow strong consumer demand, particularly for products or services in scarce supply
• Low levels of growth can contribute to a budget deficit, which raises questions as to how to address a budget shortfall

Low Levels of Unemployment:

• Low unemployment, or full employment, has obvious benefits to the economy as well as individuals
• Unemployment has two deleterious effects on the economy and the government’s budget: the higher the number of people who are unemployed, the lower the number of people who are paying income or Social Security taxes, meaning less revenue is coming into the Treasury to pay for government programs
• The unemployed may be eligible for a number of government programs geared toward people with low incomes, such as Medicaid, food stamps, or welfare payments
• During most of the 20th century, many of the best jobs for those without a college education were in manufacturing, but a shift from this traditional sector to the service economy has occurred, and in general, jobs in the service sector do not pay as much as factory jobs

The Consumer Price Index:

• The statistic most frequently used to measure inflation in the U.S., represents the average change in price over time of a market basket of consumer goods and services

Positive Balance of Trade:

• A positive balance of trade is an economic goal related to the role of the United states in an international economy
• Some analysts argue that negative balances aren’t necessarily a problem for the U.S. because it makes economic sense for a country to import more than it exports, and the government should not intervene

Managing Deficits and Debt:

• The U.S. saw budget surpluses in the late 1990s, but still had a large national debt to pay off, and that debt has increased as the nation has returned to deficit spending

Interrelationships of Economic Goals:

• When a larger number of people are out of work, the demand for products should go down, and with a decrease in demand should come a decrease in prices

Tools of Economic Policy:

Fiscal Policy

• Fiscal policy is a term that describes taxing and spending tools.
• The primary tool of fiscal policy is the budget process that the government goes through every year
• Although fiscal policy may make sense from an economic perspective, officials trying to get elected into office may receive backlash if suggesting something like raising taxes

Monetary Policy-

• A tool used by the Federal Reserve Board to influence economic policy goals; it attempts to control economic fluctuations by controlling the amount of money in circulation, also referred to as the money supply
• The Federal Reserve Board will either increase or decrease the amount of money in circulation
• Open-market operations occur when the Fed decides to buy or sell U.S. Treasury bonds

Regulation-

• Government regulation is rarely used explicitly to achieve economic goals, but it is a tool that can affect these goals
• Since the 1970s, government has produced more social or protective regulatory policies, which generally are not concerned with monopolies
• Many conservatives claim excessive environmental regulation and health and safety regulation are responsible for holding back economic growth
• Regulation is defined as any government decree that forces or prevents a particular activity

Incentives, Subsidies, and Support:

• Tax expenditures: Tax subsidies, such as investment credit or deduction, designed to favor a particular industry, activity, or set of people

Tax Policy:

• The goals of tax policy are generally simple. The government wants to collect enough revenue to meet its expenditure demands. Tax policy is highly susceptible to policy analysis because it can clarify the effects of adopting one kind of taxation relative to another
• Regressive tax: A tax that, when applied, taxes all individuals at the same rate regardless of their standing
• Progressive tax: Based on the philosophy that higher earners should pay higher taxes in terms of actual dollars and as a percentage of income

The Budget Process and its Effect on Economic Policy:

• The politics of the budget often leads to activities that occur outside of the stated process

Assumptions and Planning:

• In the first stage of developing a budget occurs many months before the government implements their actual plan
• Economic analysts in the executive branch and high-level policymakers set the budget’s major taxing and spending goals and develop assumptions about the economic conditions of the country, like the growth rate and unemployment levels.

Agency Budget Development:

• Each agency is responsible for preparing estimates for funding in the coming year based on its current programs as well as new initiatives it would like to implement

OMB Budget Review:

• The Office of Management and Budget is a presidential agency that has the primary responsibility for reviewing all agency budgets and ensuring they conform to the admin’s policies and agenda

Congressional Review:

• What Congress and the president contribute to budget development has shifted back and forth throughout U.S. history, based on the flow of power between the branches of government
• Many presidents have asked for line-item veto authority, which allows the president to delete specific items from an appropriations bill without rejecting the whole bill
• Partisan politics has made enactment of budgets an excruciating task due to the fact that the White House favors its version of federal spending priorities, and Congress may strongly disagree

Budget Execution and Control:

• The final step of the process. After the fiscal year is over, the Government Accountability Office is responsible for ensuring that money was spent legally and properly

Economic Policy-Successes and Failures:

• A number of economic policies have been proposed and implemented in the past few decades

Significant Income Tax Cuts:

• Supply-side economics: An economic theory that states the government can increase economic growth by cutting taxes, especially for the richest individuals

Responses to Deficit:

• One consequence of various tax cuts was a tremendous growth in the federal budget deficit
• While fixing a deficit is a simple matter, politically these two policy choices (increasing taxes/decreasing government spending) can be difficult
• In 1990 a new budget plan was proposed, called the Budget Enforcement Act (BEA). This attempted to reduce the federal deficit, and included a “pay as you go” provision that required all tax and spending legislation to be deficit neutral
• As part of the 2011 Budget Control Act, Congress attempted to address the deficit situation by mandating cuts through sequestration if Congress was unable to come up with a budget plan

American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009:

• This was passed as a response to save or create jobs, spur economic activity, and foster accountability
• The ARRA was seen as responsible for a 0.4 to 4.1 percent increase in the GDP during 2009-2012, and raised employment as high as 4.7 million jobs beyond what it would’ve been without the act

Economic Issues and Challenges:

• Consumer confidence plays a role in the health of the economy because consumer spending accounts for about 70 percent of economic activity in the U.S.

Maintaining Economic Growth:

• The economic growth of the 1990s facilitated action on many of the nation’s problems such as the deficit

Growth of Entitlements:

• Entitlement programs are programs with payment obligations determined by the law that created it, not by the budget associated with that program
• A major difference between an entitlement program and other government programs is how it’s funded
• Entitlements made up of 28% of the budget in 1968, and now comprise of 68% of the federal budget

Income Inequality-

• The Center on Budget and Policy Proprities has many ways of looking at this issue. For example, through examining the percent change of real after-tax income since 1979, it can be found that the top 1 percent saw income gains of 192 percent compared to 46 percent for the bottom 20 percent

Deficits and Debt:

• Reducing the deficit requires that the government either bring in more revenue or cut expenditures (decreasing entitlement, discretionary, or increasing revenue through taxes)

Equity Issues:

• Policymakers have been reluctant to address the deficit at all because of what may befall them if they propose cutting a preferred program or increasing taxes

Conclusions:

• Policy analysis can help policymakers make informed decisions about how to use a limited budget with a number of competing goals.
• Fiscal policy has to address the political issues most directly in order to even get proposals passed

Chapter 8 Notes:

• The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services reported in early 2019 with the reduced rate of increasing expenditures, overall spending on healthcare rose to a record high of 3.5 trillion dollars in 2017 (18% of the nation’s GDP), and projects by 2027 there will be $16,907 and that overall healthcare spending will rise to $6.0 trillion
• The combination of the high cost of and unequal healthcare has long been a major concern. Most people rely on employer-proided healthcare insurance

Background:

• As a government activity, healthcare policymaking is relatively recent.
• Public health agencies: Established to counter the threat of infectious diseases or unsafe food and to support medical research.
• Many of the oldest of these public health agencies continue their work today, largely without much public notice

Evolution of Healthcare Policy:

• Even with the adoption of the Social securty Act Amendments of 1965 that created Medicare and Medicaid, the U.S. healthcare system remains distinctive in comparison to other countries, where national health insurance (aka single-payer insurance) is the norm
• The Affordable Care Act is seen as highly complex, with many appeals from most Republicans, vowing to repeal the act. The Congressional Budget Office, however, concluded that repealing the law would cost more than keeping it
• The act works to improve the efficiency of healthcare service delivery as well as reduce costs.
• The costs are expected to be offset in part by a variety of new revenues, including a 0.9 increase in the Medicare payroll tax for high earners and a 3.8 percent tax on passive income such as dividends and capital gains
• The Trump administration largely defunded programs to educate the public about enrolling in the ACA insurance programs
• The percentage of nonelderly Americans without healthcare insurance dropped from about 15.7% of the population to 9.2% thanks to this Act
• Continuing conflict shows that there can be persistent and sometimes intense diagreements between these two parties

Hybrid System of Public and Private Healthcare:

• Most healthcare services in the U.S. are provided by doctors and other medical staff who work in clinics and hospitals that are privately run, even if many are not-for-profit operations
• Merit good: A good or service to which people are entitled as a right.

Strengths and Weaknesses of the U.S. Healthcare System:

• Patients and physicians alike frequently complain about the U.S. healthcare system
• The U.S. is ranked well below the level of other developed nations despite soebndung far more
• This raises the question of just how effective their programs can be and whether healthcare dollars are being well spent
• The poor, the elderly, minorities, and those living in rural areas generally receive less frequent and less adequate medical care than white, middle-class residents of urban and suburban areas

A Plurastic Healthcare System:

• Federal: Includes department of agriculture, department of health and human services, departnment of labor, and department of veteran affairs
• State: Includes CHIP (Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program), state hospitals, state mental hospitals, support of state medical schools, state departments of health, health education, state departments of agriculture and consumer protection, and state environmental protection programs
• Local: Includes city and county hospitals and clinics, public health departments and sanitation, emergency services, and city and county health and human services programs
• Health services are delivered both through the private sector and public programs. The programs most frequently in the public eye, like Medicare and Medicaid, are part of what governments do to promote the public’s health

Major Government Healthcare Programs:

• Medicare:First intended to help senior citizens. It now includes people under the age of sixty five with permanent disabilities and those with diabetes or end-stage renal disease. There are several programs included and by 2030, the number of Medicare enrollees will likely be greater than eighty million.
• In 2019, the three major entitlement programs (Social Securty, Medicare, and Medicaid, including CHIP) already accounted for about 50% of federal spending
• Medicare Program Provisions: PArt A pays partially for hospital charges, with individuals responsible for a deductible and co-payments that can be substantial. Part B, is supplemental insurance for coverage of healthcare expenses other than hospital stays, including physician charges, diagnostic tests, and hospital outpatient services. Medicare uses a fee schedule of reasonable costs that specify what physicians, hospitals, nursing homes, and home services should charge for given procedures, and the government pays 80% of that.
• Regular medicare doesn’t cover many other medical expenses (like prescription drugs used outside the hospital, dental care, and eyeglasses
• Fraud and Abuse under Medicare: This includes things like improper payments, waste, etc. Healthcare centers state that at least part of the problem lies in the government’s complex billing procedures that contribute to errors
• Medicare’s future: Bipartisan cooperation on healthcare policy, including Medicare reform, is made difficult by ideological disagreements over the role of government in healthcare and the different constituencies to which each of the major parties tries to appeal
• Medicaid: The second major program of the U.S. healthcare policy system. Established in 1965, as Title XIX of the Social Security Act
• Medicaid Provisions and Controversies: The federal government establishes standards for services, and pays about half the cost, with states paying the remainder and setting standards for eligibility and overall benefit levels
• As part of the Balanced Budget Act of 1997, a new Title XXI was added to the Social Securty Act to create CHIP, which helps ensure children living in poverty have medical coverage
• Issues of Medicaid Fraud and Abuse: Service providers may file inaccurate claims for reimbursement.
• Veterans’ Health Care: Designed to serve the needs of U.S. veterans by providing primary medical care, specialized care, and other medical and social services, such as rehabilitation
• Congress expanded the existing veterans’ health programs by enacting the Veterans’ Health Care Eligibility Reform Act of 1996. In 2000, Congress approved another healthcare program for career military personnel, expanding the military’s healthcare plan, Tricare, to include retirees with atleast twenty years of service once they become eligible for Medicare.
• Despite its many strengths, the veterans’ healthcare system has fallen short in delivery of timely healthcare services, partly because of soaring demand for services as wounded soldiers returned and as aging veterans sought treatment for chronic diseases

Other Healthcare Policy Issues:

Portability-

• One employer’s plan might not be the same as another’s in cost or quality.
• The law guarantees that employees who change jobs have the right to insurance coverage, even if that coverage comes at a higher cost
• They have the right of portability for their insurance coverage

Patients’ Rights-

• Enactment of the Affordable Care Act set in place new expectations for insurance company coverage, and behavior builds on the heritage of ERISA but also makes it less important today

Rising Healthcare Costs:

• Healthcare is expensive enough that individuals whose employers don’t provide full coverage can easily find themselves unable to pay for private insurance or for all the medical services they need
• Medicare expendituryes alone totaled 702 billion dollars in 2017, and the overall cost for federal and state spending on Medicaid was over $582 billion, for a total of $1.3 trillion
• The CMS offers projections for U.S. healthcare costs through 2027, and they show no change in the overall trend upward

State Policy Innovations:

• CA, for example, developed an aggressive antismoking media campaign and raised tobacco taxes to get people to stop smoking, a preventative healthcare action
• Some states have gone well beyond these limited measures to adopt comprehensive healthcare plans

Regulation of Prescription Drugs-

• Another way to control healthcare is to change the way the federal government and drug manufacturers develop and approve new medicines
• Congress addressed the need for balancing when it passed legislation in 2007 aimed at expanding the FDA’s regulatory powers and budget, particularly for its monitoring of prescription drugs and medical devices

Managed Care Organizations:

• Proposed as one way to contain rising healthcare services and policy, was proposed as one way to contain rising healthcare costs that had soared under the old system of unrestrained fee-for-service
• The U.S. has shifted from fee-for-service, to mostly third-party payers, like health insurance companies or the government
• The best known type of managed care organization is a health maintenance organization. Along with other managed care companies, such as a preferred provider organization, HMOs promote health services that are the most cost-effective, such as ensuring regular physicals and certain medical screening tests, limiting access to costly services and specialists, and negotiating lower fees with healthcare providers
• Following patient complaints and adverse publicity in the 1990s and early 200s, however, managed care companies changed some of their policies to become more accomodating than in the past

Reducing Healthcare Costs:

• Strategies include: passing on additional costs to healthcare consumers, setting up personal health accounts, managing disease more effectively, and using preventive healthcare
• Few people ever see the full price tag when it comes to the cost of healthcare because insurance plans take care of most of it. Even simple surgeries can cost thoursands of dollars, and many prescription drugs can run to hundreds of dollars per month
• Individuals who use health services more frequently than average should pay more of the cost–for example, through higher insurance premiums
• Many employers seeking ways to cope with rising premium costs set up personal health accounts for their workers
• Disease management programs focus on chronic diseases associated with high costs

Quality of Care-

• Every patient should expect to receieve professional and competent care that is consistent with good medical practice
• Quality care isn’t as routinely available as many would like to believe. Physicians and other healthcare professionals may spend less time with patients today than previously because of rising patient demand and lower rates of reimbursement for their services.

Medical Errors-

• One element of the concern about the quality of medical care and is more concrete and disturbing
• A widely circulated and influential report released in 1999 by the National Academy of Medicine estimated between 44,000-98,000 patients die each year of medical errors in hospitals.
• The Affordable Care Act is one force created after this for reducing medical errors

Focused Discussion: Should there be greater Emphasis on Preventive Healthcare:

• Preventive healthcare is the promotion of health and prevention of disease in individuals
• Includes routine screening for serious diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, and high blood pressure, better treatment of chronic illnesses; improved healthcare education, and more attention to how lifestyle can affect health

Effectiveness-

• Early detection and treatment can both save lives and lower the costs of treatment
• Diet and insufficient exercise can prevent excessive weight gain
• The rates of obesity and overweight vary substantially from state to state, but the trend has been toward ever-higher rates of obesity
• The American diet is a strong contributing factor in obesity for both children and adults, with increasing reliance on prepared foods high in calories, fat, and cholesterol
• In 2014, the FDA issued new rules that require chain restaurants and someother establishments to indicate calorie content on their menus, an action stimulated by the Affordable Care Act. Once obese or overweight, many people find it extraordinarily difficult to keep the weight off. For several years, the u.S. life expectancy has declined, falling to 78.7 years

Economic Efficiency Issues-

• Healthcare for obese and overweight individuals cost about 37% more on average than for those of normal weight
• Excessive weight also has been linked to more than a hundred thousand cancer deaths per year
• The costs of smoking are also estimated to result in about $156 billion in health-related economic productivity losses each year

Equiy and other Ethical Issues:

• Studies show that increasing the price of cigarettes can substantially decrease the number of young people who become smokers, and that restrictions on smoking in workplaces and public places can decrease smoking by young adults
• Lifestyle choices and wellness activities also are part of the equity question when it comes to provision of generous prescription drug coverage or other healthcare insurance benefits

Conclusions:

• Rising costs alone suggest the imperative of change. The costs threaten to bankrupt the Medicare system as the baby boom generation ages
• Fortunately for the student of public policy, information to help design more appropriate healthcare policies and institutions is widely available on the internet through government and independent sites

March 26th Notes:

• Not a goal of US economic policy: Balanced budget
• What does a negative trade balance for the US mean? The US spends more on imports than it earns in selling exports
• The US federal government is NOT constitutionally required to balance the budget
• The US federal government does not require states to have a balanced budget
• The national debt and deficit are not synonymous terms for the annual difference between revenues and expenditures
• US federal budget deficit is not higher than its debt
• 2001→ last year US did not have a budget deficit
• The strongest mathematical relationship to excessive US debt → reduced capacity for discretionary spending
• The US spent $6.3 trillion and 10% of that was spent on debt
• The US spends more on interest than education and transportation combined
• Defense → a discretionary expenditure
• Most effective anad feasible at reducing the US deficit → increase income and business tax rates
• All policy the US uses to influence the economy can be categorized as fiscal or monetary policy
• Fiscal policy involves taxing and spending
• Fiscal policy: controlled by the president and congress
• Monetary policy is controlled by the federal reserve
• Minimum deficit: Not part of the Federal Reserve’s mandate
• The federal reserve has an inflation target of 2% per year
• For recent US monetary policy, which unemployment rate was considered max employment? 5%
• 6 months of continuous economic decline is considered a recession
• If the economy gros too fast it can initially result in: excessive inflation
• Influential economists have argues FED should aim for an unemployment rate of 10% to achieve target inflation
• Ways to raise revenue that tends to be most publicly popular: User fees
• Regressive tax: A higher percent of income is taxed as income decreases
• Federal income tax → not considered a regressive tax
• A 1% reduction to income taxes cuts tax bills more for the wealthy
• March 23rd: Senate passed a bill authorizing to stop a government shutdown until September 30th
• Raising the US debt ceiling authorizes the US to increase spending

April 2nd Notes:

• The age group with the highest poverty rate is: Children under 18
• The race/ethnicity group with the highest poverty rate: African Americans
• Completing high school no longer reduces the rate of poverty: false
• The way the Census defines and calculates official poverty was last updated in the 1960s
• Social security is included in census
• The Census official poverty measure is not used to determine eligibility got welfare assistance programs
• Households below the FPL qualify for welfare programs and households above the FPL do not qualify for welfare programs
• 50% of FPL or less is considered deep poverty
• 200% of FPL or less is considered low-income
• The Gini coefficient considers poverty in terms of income inequality
• The US does not have the highest income inequality as deteermined by the Gini coefficient
• The richest 20% of the population earns 50% of all income in the US
• Based on the Gini coefficient, income equality in the US has increased over time
• About half of US children born in 1985 earn more than their parents
• Which of the following programs is NOT similar to Social Security? SNAP (food stamps)
• The funds a worker contributes to Social Security is not saved in a fund for distribution when they become eligible
• Social security trust fund is predicted to be exhausted in 2038
• As designed, Social security will become financially insolvent. Which of the following is not a potential solution? Adjust benefits to the cost of living
• A person earning $165,000 pays the same amount to Social Security as someone earning $1 million
• Unlike social security, eligibility for welfare programs are means-tested, meaning eligibility is based on need
• SNAP recipients are expected to register for work and take available employment
• Households can use SNAP to buy which of the following? Snack foods like chips and ice cream
• The second largest nutrition assistance program is delivered to school children
• The child tax credit provides families up to $2,000 per child
• Analysis of US welfare reform finds three explicit goals pursued. Which of the following was not one of those goals? Bridge the wage gap
• Social security funds are redistributed from workers to nonworkers
• The number of people in the family, the composition in the family, and the inflation from year to year are all taken into consideration when adjusting the poverty rate
• Adult recipients are limited to five years of receiving federal TANF funds
• The Social Security tax rate is not adjusted for income and is therefore regressive
• EITC offers little support to childless adults

Chapter 9 Notes:

• 39.7 million people, or 12.7% of the US population, were below the poverty level in 2017
• Those in poverty include: 12.8 million are children, 2.4 million work full-time, 5.7 million work less than full-time, 4.7 million are senior citizens, and 3.8 million are disabled
• Many of those in poverty are senior citizens despite their receipt of Social Sceurity benefits
• The Social Security program serves about sixty-one million people
• Over the past two decades, many analysts and polucymakers have suggested changes to the program, particularly to address demographic shifts (like retirement of the baby boom generation), budgetary concerns, and questions of sustainability, yet the program continues with only minimal changes being made
• Social Security is a program in which economics, politics, and ethics intersect, leading to a variety of opinions about the program and what to do about it
• Some governmental policies, like Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) or welfare, are programs that require recipients to meet a certain income test. Other policy changes, like an increase in minimum wage, can also affect income

Background:

• The welfare system: The other major program associated with income maintenance besides Social Security, and currently administered under the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconcilliation Act of 1996 and reauthorized in 2006
• Poverty exists and needs to be addressed, and it becomes an even greater concern during times of economic downturns

Poverty-

• Defined by the Census Bureau as falling below a specified level of annual income that is adjusted each year to reflect the rising cost of living
• As of 2018, the federal government placed a family of four below the poverty line if its annual income was less than $25,100 in the forty-eight contiguous states
• In 2017, nearly forty million people were considered to be impoverished, however, this was down from forty-six million in 2012
• Poverty in the U.S. came to a head during the mid-1960s when President Lyndon Johnson declared the War on Poverty
• Between 1965-1973, the poverty rate fell from 17.3-11.1 percent, and it appeared that the nation was winning the war. However, the U.S. has not achieved a poverty rate this low since 1973
• In 2018, 18 percent of all children in the U.S. were poor, and this percentage increased to 21.8 in 2012, then decreased to 17.5 percent in 2017
• Children make up only 25% of the population, but they comprise 33% of the nation’s poor
• Gini Coefficient: Economists use this. This is a graphical way to demonstrate a nation’s income equality/inequality by charting the percentage of income made by quintiles of families
• As a curve deviates away from the forty-five degree line, it shows an increase in income inequality. The interpretation of the curve is that if a few people are making a large percentage of the income, more people are put at risk of poverty
• Based on 2017 data from the U.S. Census Bureau, the richest 20% of the population makes 51.5% of all the income in the U.S. and the poorest 20 percent makes only 3.5 percent
• Although levels of poverty, as defined by the Census Bureau, have been decreasing, in 2010 they reached the highest level in over fifty years, in part because of the prolonged economic downturn and high levels of unemployment or underemployment
• While the Census Bureau has considered revising its definition of poverty, no real changes occurred until 2011, when the bureau introduced a supplementary measure of poverty
• The income threshold in 2017 would be $27,085, or nearly $2,500 greater than the stated rate
• Even the proposed increase in the income threshold and the resulting additional assistance may not be sufficient to cover a family’s expenses– housing, food, clothing, child and medical care,etc
• Culture of Poverty: Used to describe how those living in poverty learn to work the welfare system to their benefit and pass this information on to their children, who remain poor
• Conservatives tend to blame government programs for encouraging people to remain poor, in part by not requiring any kind of responsibility in exchange for received benefits
• Liiverals see poverty as an issue brought on by economic and social conditions over which individuals have little or no control
• Equity is one of the criteria used to analyze problems or policies, but can have multiple meanings
• Many of the social programs developed throughout U.S. history have attempted to deal with the poverty issue from different perspectives
• 39.2 percent of the elderly would be in poverty without Social Security benefits, and with these benefits, the number in poverty drops to 9.2 percent

Social Security:

• The single largest federal government program today, providing money for retired workers, their beneficiaries, and workers with disabilities
• Social security was enacted in 1935 during the New Deal period as a way to ensure that certain segments of society were guaranteed an income after their working years
• Other examples of such programs are unemployment insurance and workers’ compensation. With these, citizens pay into a fund from which they expect to receive money back when they’re eligible
• Social security is typically classified as a redistributive policy program
• Benefits fall into five major categories:

1. Retirement
2. Disability
3. Family
4. Survivor
5. Medicare

• The Social Security Administration also administers the Supplemental Security Income benefits program for low-income individuals who are at least sixty-five years old or disabled. This is not financed through Social Security taxes
• Most of Social security is financed by a specific tax on income
• The Social Security tax is capped at an annual income of $132,900 for a maximum contribution total of $8,240 per year
• Limits are also imposed on the amount of money that each person can receive each month from the program. Social Security is often referred to as the political “third rail” because of the potential political danger associated with attempts to reform it

Social Security’s Changing Demographics:

• In 1945, the Social Security program had fewer than five million beneficiaries, but by 2019, the number had grown to more than sixty-eight million
• As more people live beyond the age of sixty-five, larger numbers are entitled to Social Seucirty benefits. Analysts are especially worried about the impeding retirement of the baby boom generation

Problems with Social Security:

• In 2000, beneficiaries who chose to work to supplement their income would lose part of their Social Security benefits if they made more than a certain amount of money during the year
• This change in the law benefits only those senior citizens who continue to work
• Another issue is the fixed retirement age. Originally, the official age for collecting Social Security benefits was sixty-five, but changes to the law have gradually raised the age of eligibility to between sixty-six and sixty-seven
• If people cannot receive full benefits until sixty-seven, they will not receive as much money over their lifetimes. Also, if they continue to work, they will also continue to contribute to the program
• A third major problem with Social Security is the potential gender inequity built into the system

Financing Social Security:

• The strong economy during the 1990s partially improved the situation of Social Security by increasing its solvency
• In 2018, Social Security began to draw down on the trust fund reserves in order to pay some of the benefits
• By 2033, the trust funds, which are in reality a promise to pay, will be depleted, and the revenue coming into the program will pay only about 75% of the benefits that are due to retirees and other recipients
• Like any other budget problem, the simple solution to deal with the coming deficit in Social Security would be to increase revenues flowing into the program or to cut expenditures
• Social Security benefits go up annually, and the amount is linked to changes in inflation, as measured by the CPI.
• Many workers in the U.S. don’t receive inflationary adjustments in their wages
• Many policy analysts believe the government’s current indicators, such as the CPI, overstate inflation
• Privatization is another approach to Social Security financing. This includes that individuals would be allowed to invest some of their withholding tax in mutual funds of their choosing, or the government might be permitted to invest Social Security funds in the stock market or other private instruments to generate a higher rate of return than is now possible
• Each of the perspectives on proposals to privatize Social Security comes with plenty of supporting data and reports, but the debate is not only about personal retirement and investment but is also about how the program will continue to survive for future generations

Welfare:

• Means-tested programs: Social programs in which recipients must meet an income test in order to qualify for benefits
• Means-tested programs differ from social insurance programs such as Social Security: eligibility for these programs is based on need rather than contributions made to the program
• Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program: Started in 1971, when subsidized meals were tied directly to the poverty guidelines

Aid to Families with Dependent Children:

• First, AFDC provided funds to individuals but expected little in return
• AFDC stigmatized the beneficiaries by requiring them to respond to personal questions, home inspections, and other administrative intrusions to qualify for the benefits
• Minimum wage

The Earned Income Tax Credit:

• A refundable federal income tax for low-income working individuals and families
• Increases in the EITC would raise budgetary concerns that the government would need to take into consideration, particularly in times with large deficits

Welfare Reform Options:

• Liberals saw the program of AFDC as inadequate to provide enough benefits to ensure an adequate standard of living and protect the children who were supposed to be the primary beneficiaries
• During the 1990s, major forces came together to get welfare reform u=onto the government agenda, and the result was a new policy
• The ideological changes in Congress likely also forced some movement

Welfare Reform Law:

• AS part of the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005, which became law in 2006, Congress reauthorized TANF and approved changes that made the program stricter, made it more difficult for states to meet the established goals, and took away some state flexibility
• In 2018, more than 2.2 million people were receiving TANF benefits according to the HHS Administration for Children and Families

Analysis of the Welfare Reform Law:

• The welfare reform policy incorporated a number of components of interest to public policy students
• The public supported and continues to agree with the changes of the welfare program, which would include job training, child care benefits or medical care to ensure that adults can work, would actually be more expensive to implement in the short run than the previous AFDC program
• Three major goals associated with welfare reform based on what the government did: enforce work requirements, reduce dependency, and promote marriage
• The question of effectiveness is critical as policymakers decide what may be the next step in addressing poverty and welfare issues

Economic and Effectiveness Issues:

• More money can lead to additional expenditures or savings, both of which can have a positive effect on the overall economy
• Revising the federal minimum wage is the second related proposal put forth by the AEI/Brookings report. An increase in the minimum wage would also put additional money in the wallets of those working at this wage and would have similar individual and macro-level benefits
• The EITC is an appropriated item in the budget, and in any expansion of the tax credit will have budgetary implications and potentially increase the federal deficit unless it is offset in some way
• A minimum wage is similar to setting a price floor
• Another proposal is to increase investments in two underfunded stages of education

Political Issues:

• The EITC raises more general budgetary issues that the government needs to take into consideration, as well as potential concerns by organizations worried about the federal deficit

Ethics and Equity Issues:

• One policy reccomendation from the AEI/Brookings report is to promote delayed, responsible childbearing.
• Questions of equity often examine the difference between equality of opportunity and equality of results
• Society needs to come to terms with the question of whether public education and its funding provides a societal benefit in which we share the costs

Chapter 10 Notes:

• There are many factors that may lead one to believe that college may not be a reality, particularly for a low-income student, but one of the more important factors must be the increasing cost of college
• The cost and value of a higher education was a major them in the 2016 presidential elections, particularly in the primary contests between Senator Bernie Sanders and former secretary of state Hillary Clinton
• Some questions remain as to what the federal government can really do to solve the problem of rising college prices affecting students from low-income families
• Education has always been considered the great equalizer in the U.S. and an important aspect of its egalitarian and individualistic culture
• Education is one of the many public services that people take for granted
• Receiving a quality education can be a difficult, if not impossible, task
• Education fulfills many of the nation’s basic goals and has done so since the country’s founding
• Government took it upon itself to provide education for both moral and political reasons
• The reasons for providing public education that existed years ago are still relevant as government policymakers deal with education policy today
• Grants from agencies fund applied research in support of goals
• Morill Act: Included several programs in support of higher education, approved in 1862. It helped to develop the nation’s land-grant college system
• Student performance statistics show wide variation in the quality of education from state to state, and the government has attempted to impose higher standards where needed

Problems Facing Education:

Funding:

• A significant portion oof funding for public schools in the United States comes from local property taxes. However, the property tax doesn’t keep pace with inflationaryu costs of providing an education. While teacher salaries, textbooks, school supplies, and other costs continue to increase, the amount of money provided through property taxes remains unchanged. Property tax revenue directed to public schools varies considerably among the fifty states and within statesFinancing education with local property taxes is inequitable and should be replaced with a system of federal funding to ensure greater equality

Quality:

• The National Assessment of Educational Progress: A test for quality required by the No Child Left Behind Act to determine whether schools are meeting appropriate standards
• The most recent results from the Program for International Student Assessment found that fifteen-year-olds scored in the “middle of the developed world in reading and science while lagging in math”
• The way a public problem is defined affects the appraisal of it, the alternatives that are considered, and the policies that might be adopted to deal with it
• Education traditionalists suggest that quality is decreasing because schools are not emphaszising the basics
• Teacher quality: An issue in education policy that concerns a teacher’s ability in the classroom
• The Education Trust reported in 2010 that while there have been significant improvements in the area of out-of subject teaching, the nation had not yet reached the nation’s goal of 100 percent of the instructors teaching in areas within their specialty
• Workload add another common explanation, that teachers are paid far less than those in other professions with comparable educational requirements, are both often put forth as reasons why it may be difficult to find high-quality teachers
• The classroom atmosphere is difficult and may include school violence, crowded classrooms, and pupils’ unstable family situations that make it more difficult to learn, and hence fewer are inspired to become teachers than in the past
• The increase in families headed by one parent or in which both parents work, along with other changes in home life, has likely hindered students’ ability to learn
• The Obama administration reformed NCLB and set forth a “blueprint” related to the reauthorization of ESEA, and by extension NCLB
• Every Student Succeeds Act: A new version of the federal education law (ESEA), signed by President Obama in 2015, that reversed much of the federal government’s control of public education and returned control to the states and local districts
• President Trump’s election has brought a different focus on how to address quality issues.

Education Policy Reforms:

Merit pay-

• The idea that teacher pay increases should be based on performance in the classroom; this is sometimes linked to how students perform on standardized exams
• A recent meta-study examining forty four other studies found that the presence of a merit pay program is associated with a modest, statistically significant positive effect on student test scores
• Opponents raise several issues about linking pay increases to performance
• Without some agreement as to what makes a quality teacher, bias and inequity could taint the assessments. Many argue that until teacher salaries are competitive with those of other occupations, merit pay will not succeed in attracting and retaining highly qualified people

Teacher Standards, Certification, and Salaries-

• Teachers must meet certain standards in order to become, and remain, certified in the profession
• Requiring a uniform level of competency for teaching should ensure a better-quality education for the students
• Teacher quizlity comes from knowledge of both substance and skills
• A report by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development states that many countries are pursuing multiple avenuses to ensure high-quality teacher education, and in some cases, these idea go beyond the content-versus-pedagogy dichotomy
• Proponents of higher teacher salaries argue that if teachers are professionals, their school districts must pay them as such

School Vouchers, School Choice, and Charter Schools-

• Americans traditionally mistrust business monopolies, believing that they can increase prices indiscriminately or offer lower-quality goods and services, but consumers have little or no choice
• School choice: The term used to describe any school reform effort that provides parents with options regarding where to send their children, including charter schools and voucher programs. Sometimes the term is used more specifically to describe programs in which parents can send children to public schools in a particular area
• School vouchers: A school reform idea in which the government provides individuals with a certain amount of money that can be applied to a student’s education; often associated with a way to provide people with a private school option they may not have been able to afford in the past
• Most school voucher systems are limited in what they are aimed at assisting low-income students (for example, a family of four must have an income no higher than 300 percent of the poverty level
• Zelman v. Simmons-Harris: 2002 S.C. case regarding Cleveland’s voucher system, perhaps clarified the legal environment surrounding school voucher programs
• A primary issue must be whether voucher programs have been successful
• Charter School: A school reform idea in which a school is government supported but independent. A state board of education gives an independent entity the responsibility for establishing a school and delivering education services with limited control by the school board. They are responsible for meeting the standards they develop. President Trump proposed $20 billion in federal funds to expand voucher programs

School Testing-

• Concerns about standardized testing include potential racial or cultural bias of the exams, national tests could infringe on state and local authority, and the testing is expensive
• The conflict regarding testing led to a large rewrite of NCLB that was sigend by President Obama at the end of 2015. The ESSA had a number of areas that walked back the role of the federal government that NCLB championed, including: returning power to states and local districts to determine how to address failing schools, eliminating the federal consequences for schools that perform poorly, and barring the federal government from imposing academic requirements
• Groups representing the poor and underrepresented populations claimed it went too far in eliminating federal oversight

Higher Education Issues:

Affirmative Action-

• In the name of promoting diversity, many colleges have given admissions preferences to certain demographics
• A number of states have moved to eliminate preference programs from their state institutions even as many college administrators believe that racial diversity is critical to the goals of education
• Those who favor the abolition of affirmative action, however, see non–affirmative action admissions practices as more equitable to all the applicants
• Many institutions assert that affirmative action programs are effective because they reach the goal of diversified student bodies

Costs of Higher Education-

• Between 1988 and 2018, the inflation-adjusted tuition and fees for public schools increased over 200 percent, and for private institutions, increased 110 percent
• Many students who might have considered private institutions have turned instead to public colleges and universities, which almost always cost less
• One of the most important issues in higher education is the level of state support provided to students, especially those attending state institutions
• The amount of debt often incurred through teh for-profit avenue, and the targeting of veterans who may not be well served by the education they receive

Higher Education Affordibility, Cost, and Value:

• If higher education is seen as a public good, since the additional education will make society as a whole better through better citizenship, more economic development, and less need for social services, then public support for education is appropriate
• Education can be considered a positive externality in that society benefits from a more educated population.
• Although higher education costs and funding provoke considerable debate, the value of a college education from an individual’s perspective cannot be overestimated
• On average, students with a bachelor’s degree or higher earn substantially more than those who only complete high school
• Higher education appears to be becoming much more of a private good

Political Issues-

• In the fall of 2016, undergraduate enrollment was 16.9 million students, over 13.1 million of whom were attending public institutions
• Yet, funding has decreased. This may be due to the fact that the traditional-age student (eighteen to twenty-four) is a demographic having one of the lowest voting turnout rates. 46% of this age group voted in 2016, but have decreased during the midterm election in 2018, with the youth vote at 31 percent

Equity and Ethical Issues-

• Grants are programs that address the needs of low-income individuals
• The percentage of students taking out loans increased over the ten-year period from 2006-2016. The increase in the average loan level is because the average loan debt increased by 19 percent during this period, which is a smaller increase than earlier comparisons.
• One example of a program to help alleviate college costs is the Excelsior Scholarship programn in New York. Students from families with income less than $125,000 (in 2019) are eligible for free public tuition

Conclusions:

• The passage of NCLB saw federal policymakers much more involved in education issues, particularly around quality, and taking a greater interest in this policy area.
• State and local control swayed with the passage of ESSA
• Both NCLB and ESSA started as bipartisan efforts and showcased the changing nature of the role of the federal government in education
• The major issues of higher education will continue to be cost, affordability, and value

April 9th Notes:

• Education is not a public good because it can be privatized
• Which of the following market failures best explains why government subsidies K-12 education? Externalities
• The societal benefit of an individual completing K-12 is fully captured by the increase in their earnings: False
• The federal government funds about 10% of the total budget for K-12 education
• The Department of Education’s largest expenditure in K-12 is what program? Title I Grants
• Eligibility for a school district to receive Title I funds is conditional on what: Having a high percentage of low-income students and adherence to federal guidelines for performance and accountability
• What is the primary source of local revenue for public schools? Local property taxes
• 80% of local revenue for public schools is from local property taxes
• Financing education with local property taxes is an equity issue
• State governments can be sued in court for unequal funding across school districts: True
• State governments can be sued in court for inadequate funding for inadequate funding for school districts: True
• Over the last decade, spending on education has increased but test scores have not: True
• Among OECD countries, the US ranks in the bottom half in spending per student and scores in math & science: False
• According to research, more spending does NOT lead to better education outcomes: False
• State governments have the major responsibilities over curriculum, teacher training, and certification
• In general, teachers receive pay raises primarily based on their: years of service
• When teacher layoffs occur, years of service is the primary metric used for deciding which teachers are dismissed
• Studies show that teacher merit pay improves student test scores: True
• Traditionally, who determines which school each student attends? Local school boards
• School vouchers and charter schools are a policy response to what critique of traditional public schools? TPS are government sponsored monopolies, TPS use resources inefficiently, and TPS do not offer a high-quality education
• Which is the primary source of funds for charter schools? State government
• What is the name of the current version of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA)? Every Student Succceeds Act (ESSA)
• Which of the following was NOT a critique of NCLB? Excessive focus on historically disadvantaged students
• Higher education does not generate positive externalities: False
• Higher education is voluntary because a high school degree is all that is necessary to earn a living wage: False
• The increasing cost to college students is directly related to decreasing support from state governments
• Since 1990, many state government have shifted support toward targeted scholarships based on what? Academic merit
• Which of the following has NOT contributed to increases in the cost of higher education? Online degrees

April 16th notes:

• Michigan: State that does not believe climate change is human caused
• What is the most significant way humans contribute to climate change? Emission of greenhouse gases
• Which country ranks highest in greenhouse gas emissions? China
• Which accounts for the largest share of global greenhouse gas emissions? Carbon dioxide
• Which sector is the largest source of global greenhouse gas emissions? Electricity and heat production
• Fossil fuels account for 80% of greenhouse gas emissions
• The transportation sector consumes the most greenhouse gases
• The Biden administration is aiming for electric vehicles to account for 50% of all auto sales by 2030
• Which is not one of the three major elements of US environmental policy? Public health policy
• The EPA develops regulations that affect the use and release of hazardous chemicals and pollutants
• The Clean Water Act gave states primary responsibility for implementation
• The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act was intended to regulate hazardous waste disposal practices through management of solid waste
• In 2020, the most conservative estimate of benefits from the Clean Air Act were 3 times greater than its costs
• Between 1990-2019, total us greenhouse gas emissions has decreased: False
• 45 percent of us adults believe the Biden administration’s policies on climate change are taking the US in the right direction

April 23rd Notes:

• Foreign policy is more centralized to the president comapred to domestic policy
• Who is not a regular attendee of the National Security Council? Speaker of the House
• Which of the following policy tools is least applicable to foreign policy? Social regulation
• Which international organization was formed to coordinate security interests and military defense between US and Europe? NATO
• Ukraine is a member of NATO: False
• What country most recently joined NATO? Sweden
• Which organization focuses on the use of common economic interests to maintain peace between nations? World Trade Organization
• Taxes imposed on imports are referred as tariffs
• The Trump administration’s emphasis on higher tariffs reduced the US trade deficit: False
• Which organization facilitates cooperation in international law and security? UN
• Which organization focuses on economic development of poor nations? World Bank
• Which is not a common criticism of the World Bank? Deters economic development
• Which organization is primarily responsible for US bilateral foreign aid? US agency for international development
• Most US foreign aid goes toward economic aid rather than military aid: True
• Which country receieved the most US foreign aid in 2022? Ukraine
• The US is one of the few OECD countries that don’t meet UN target for foreign aid of 0.7% Gross National Income: False
• The Department of Homeland Security’s job consists solely of antiterrorism efforts: False
• In 2005, which of the following did the DHS identify as among the most costly potential threats? Flue pandemic
• How much of the TSA’s budget is spent on aviation security? 80%
• The SAFE Port Act requires 100 percent of U.S. bound ocean containers be scanned before leaving their port of origin
• On average, how long does it take to inspect a 20-40 foot shipping container? 4 hours
• According to the FBI, domestic terrorism arrests now exceed arrests for international terrorism