Professional Documents
Culture Documents
8
Federalism
The Evolution of Federal-State Relations
State Variation in Policy Capacity
Separation of Powers
Legislative Branch
Executive Branch
Judicial Branch
Informal Policy Actors and Policy Capacity
Public Opinion and Policymaking
Interest Groups, Nonprofits, and Public Policy
Media
Policy Subgovernments and Issue Networks
Improving Policy Capacity
Conclusions
Discussion Questions
Keywords
Suggested Readings
Suggested Websites
Notes
3 Understanding Public Policymaking
Theories of Politics and Public Policy
Elite Theory
Group Theory
Institutional Theory
Rational Choice Theory
Political Systems Theory
The Policy Process Model
Problem Definition and Agenda Setting
Policy Formulation
Policy Legitimation
Policy Implementation
Policy Evaluation
Policy Change
Instruments of Public Policy
Regulation
Government Management
Taxing and Spending
Market Mechanisms
Education, Information, and Persuasion
Policy Typologies
Conclusions
9
Discussion Questions
Keywords
Suggested Readings
Suggested Websites
Notes
Part II ANALYZING PUBLIC POLICY
4 Policy Analysis: An Introduction
The Nature of Policy Analysis
Steps in the Policy Analysis Process
Define and Analyze the Problem
Construct Policy Alternatives
Choose Evaluative Criteria
Assess the Alternatives
Draw Conclusions
Types of Policy Analysis
Scientific Approaches
Professional Approaches
Political Approaches
What Kind of Analysis Is Needed?
Deal with Root Causes or Make Pragmatic
Adjustments?
Comprehensive Analysis or Short-Term Policy
Relevance?
Consensual or Contentious Analysis?
Reliance on Rational Analysis or Democratic Politics?
Other Aspects of Policy Analysis
Conclusions
Discussion Questions
Keywords
Suggested Readings
Suggested Websites
Leading General Journals of Public Policy
Major Professional Newsweeklies with Policy Coverage
Notes
5 Public Problems and Policy Alternatives
Problem Analysis
The Nature of the Problem
Thinking about Causes and Solutions
How to Find Information
Constructing Alternatives
What Governments Can Do
10
Policy Typologies as Analytic Tools
Thinking Creatively about Policy Action
Conclusions
Discussion Questions
Keywords
Suggested Readings
Suggested Websites
Notes
6 Assessing Policy Alternatives
Evaluative Criteria for Judging Policy Proposals
Effectiveness
Efficiency
Equity
Ethics and Political Values
Using the Methods of Policy Analysis
Economic Approaches
Cost-Benefit Analysis
Cost-Effectiveness Analysis
Risk Assessment
Decision Making and Impacts
Forecasting
Impact Assessment
Political and Institutional Approaches
Political Feasibility Analysis
Implementation Analysis and Program Evaluation
Ethical Analysis
Conclusions
Discussion Questions
Keywords
Suggested Readings
Suggested Websites
Notes
Part III ISSUES AND CONTROVERSIES IN PUBLIC POLICY
7 Economic and Budgetary Policy
Background
Goals of Economic Policy
Economic Growth
Low Levels of Unemployment
Low Levels of Inflation
Positive Balance of Trade
Managing Deficits and Debt
11
Interrelationships of Economic Goals
Tools of Economic Policy
Fiscal Policy
Monetary Policy
Regulation
Incentives, Subsidies, and Support
Tax Policy
The Budget Process and Its Effect on Economic Policy
Assumptions and Planning
Agency Budget Development
OMB Budget Review
Congressional Review
Budget Execution and Control
Economic Policy: Successes and Failures
Significant Income Tax Cuts
Responses to the Deficit
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009
Economic Issues and Challenges
Maintaining Economic Growth
Growth of Entitlements
Income Inequality
Focused Discussion: How to Address the Budgetary
Shortfall
Economic Issues
Political Issues
Equity and Other Ethical Issues
Conclusions
Discussion Questions
Keywords
Major Legislation
Suggested Readings
Suggested Websites
Notes
8 Health Care Policy
Background
Evolution of Health Care Policy
A Hybrid System of Public and Private Health Care
The Perils of Being Uninsured
Strengths and Weaknesses of the U.S. Health Care
System
A Pluralistic Health Care System
12
Major Government Health Care Programs
Medicare
Medicaid
Veterans’ Health Care
Other Health Care Policy Issues
Portability
Patients’ Rights
Rising Health Care Costs
State Policy Innovations
Regulation of Prescription Drugs
Managed Care Organizations
Reducing Health Care Costs
Quality of Care
Medical Errors
Focused Discussion: Should There Be Greater Emphasis on
Preventive Health Care?
Effectiveness
Economic Efficiency Issues
Equity and Other Ethical Issues
Conclusions
Discussion Questions
Keywords
Major Legislation
Suggested Readings
Suggested Websites
Notes
9 Welfare and Social Security Policy
Background
Poverty
Social Security
Social Security’s Changing Demographics
Problems with Social Security
Financing Social Security
Welfare
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program
Aid to Families with Dependent Children
The Earned Income Tax Credit
Welfare Reform Options
Welfare Reform Law
Analysis of the Welfare Reform Law
Focused Discussion: Can We Do Better? Addressing
13
Poverty
Economic and Effectiveness Issues
Political Issues
Ethics and Equity Issues
Conclusions
Discussion Questions
Keywords
Major Legislation
Suggested Readings
Suggested Websites
Notes
10 Education Policy
Background
Problems Facing Education
Funding
Separation of Church and State
Quality
Education Policy Reforms
Merit Pay
Teacher Standards, Certification, and Salaries
School Vouchers, School Choice, and Charter Schools
School Testing
Higher Education Issues
Affirmative Action
Costs of Higher Education
Focused Discussion: Higher Education Affordability, Cost,
and Value
Economic Issues
Political Issues
Equity and Ethical Issues
Conclusions
Discussion Questions
Keywords
Major Legislation
Suggested Readings
Suggested Websites
Notes
11 Environmental and Energy Policy
Background
The Evolution of Environmental and Energy Policy
Early Environmental and Energy Policies
14
The Modern Environmental Movement and Policy
Developments
From Consensus to Conflict in Environmental Policy
Major Federal Environmental Policies
The National Environmental Policy Act
Environmental Protection Statutes and the EPA
Natural Resource Policies
Energy Policy
Focused Discussion: Climate Change and Energy Policy
Alternatives
Economic Issues
Political Feasibility
Ethical Issues
Conclusions
Discussion Questions
Keywords
Major Legislation
Suggested Readings
Suggested Websites
Notes
12 Foreign Policy and Homeland Security
Background and Policy Evolution
The Marshall Plan, NATO, and the Cold War
The United Nations and Globalization
Military Buildup and Nuclear Weapons
The Intelligence Agencies and the War in Iraq
Economic and Military Assistance: Foreign Aid
Selected Issues in Homeland Security
Comparing Homeland Security Threats: How
Vulnerable Are We?
The Case of Transportation Security
Focused Discussion: Civil Liberties in an Age of Terrorism
Effectiveness and Efficiency
Legal and Ethical Concerns
Conclusions
Discussion Questions
Keywords
Major Legislation
Suggested Readings
Suggested Websites
Notes
15
Part IV CONCLUSIONS
13 Politics, Analysis, and Policy Choice
Policy Analysis, Citizen Participation, and Policy Change
Public Policies and Their Impacts
Policy Conflicts and Incremental Decision Making
Policy Strategies with No Crystal Ball
Policy Analysis and Policy Choices
Evaluating Public Policy
Improving Policy Capacity
Citizen Participation in Decision Making
Citizen Capacity and Policy Engagement
New Forms of Citizen Participation
Conclusions
Discussion Questions
Keywords
Major Legislation
Suggested Readings
Suggested Websites
Notes
Glossary
References
Index
16
Boxes, Figures, and Tables
Chapter 1
Working with Sources: Interest Groups on the Web (box) 12
Working with Sources: The Public’s Political Knowledge
(box) 13
Private Goods and Public Goods (figure) 26
Steps to Analysis: How to Interpret Policy Studies (box) 29
Chapter 2
Federal, State, and Local Agents of Policymaking and
Avenues of Policy Formation (figure) 46
Working with Sources: State Public Policies (box) 50
Working with Sources: Congress (box) 53
Working with Sources: Executive Departments and Agencies
(box) 57
Federal Cabinet Departments and Major Agencies (table) 59
Working with Sources: The Federal Judiciary (box) 61
Steps to Analysis: Public Opinion (box) 63
How Much Americans Worry about Global Warming
(figure) 63
Working with Sources: Interest Group Policy Strategies
(box) 66
Chapter 3
The Policy Process Model (table) 90
Steps to Analysis: What’s on the Agenda? (box) 95
Steps to Analysis: Appraising Policy Formulation (box) 99
Steps to Analysis: Judging Policy Legitimation (box) 101
Instruments of Public Policy (figure) 107
Chapter 4
Steps in the Policy Analysis Process (figure) 124
Orientations to Policy Analysis (figure) 132
Steps to Analysis: Think Tank Positions on Policy Issues
(box) 133
Working with Sources: Comparing Think Tanks (box) 135
Chapter 5
National Health Expenditure and Revenue by Category,
2015 (figure) 153
Working with Sources: Sustainable Development Indicators
(box) 155
17
Steps to Analysis: Major Components of Problem Analysis
(box) 160
What Governments Can Do (figure) 165
Steps to Analysis: Policy Design Tools (box) 167
Chapter 6
Selected Criteria for Evaluating Public Policy Proposals
(figure) 183
Steps to Analysis: Conducting a Cost-Benefit Analysis (box)
196
Steps to Analysis: Ethical Analysis: The Case of Organ
Donation (box) 213
Chapter 7
Steps to Analysis: Employment and Unemployment Statistics
(box) 231
Working with Sources: The Consumer Price Index (box) 233
Tools of Monetary Policy (figure) 239
Steps to Analysis: Variables in Making Tax Policy (box) 243
The Federal Budgetary Process (figure) 244
Working with Sources: Views on Economics and Budgeting
(box) 253
Fiscal 2017 Proposed Federal Budget by Category (in billions
of dollars) (figure) 255
Chapter 8
Working with Sources: Health Care Policy Information
(box) 275
Major Features of the Affordable Care Act (box) 278
Major Government Health-Related Programs (table) 284
National Health Expenditures, 1980–2025 (in current
dollars) (table) 293
Steps to Analysis: Regulation of New Drug Approval (box)
297
State Obesity Rates, 2015 (figure) 304
Working with Sources: Ethical Issues in Health Care (box)
307
Chapter 9
Characteristics of Individuals Living below Poverty, 2014
(figure) 320
U.S. Poverty Rates by Age, 1959–2015 (figure) 320
Gini Coefficient for U.S. Income Distribution, 2015 (figure)
321
Income Distribution in the United States, 2015 (table) 322
18
Shares of Aggregate Income of Elderly by Source, 2014
(figure) 325
Steps to Analysis: AARP as an Advocacy Group (box) 327
Fewer Workers per Retiree, 1955–2090 (figure) 328
Working with Sources: Welfare and the Weakening
Economy (box) 338
Number of Families Receiving AFDC/TANF Benefits for
Every 100 Families with Children in Poverty (figure) 341
Chapter 10
Steps to Analysis: What Successful Education Programs
Require (box) 360
Steps to Analysis: State Education Funding (box) 361
Steps to Analysis: Civic Knowledge (box) 364
Median Salaries of Selected Occupations, 2015 (table) 370
Teachers’ Salaries Relative to Earning for Similarly
Educated Workers, 2013 (figure) 370
Inflation-Adjusted Tuition and Fees, 1986–1987 and 2016–
2017 (figure) 378
Steps to Analysis: “I’m a Student Debt Slave” (box) 379
Federal Loans and Pell Grants Awards by Type of
Institution, 2013–2014 (table) 379
Educational Appropriations per Pupil, Percent Change by
State, 2010–2015 (figure) 381
2015 Mean Salaries of Males and Females over Age Twenty-
five, by Educational Attainment (table) 383
Number of Loans and Loan Amounts for First-Time, Full-
Time Undergraduate Students for Their First Year in
College (in constant 2013 dollars) (table) 387
Chapter 11
Steps to Analysis: Sustainable Development (box) 401
Major U.S. Environmental Laws, 1964–2016 (table) 407
Steps to Analysis: Voting Records on the Environment (box)
410
League of Conservation Voters’ Environmental Voting
Scores: U.S. Congress—by Chamber and Party, 1970–2015
(figure) 410
Working with Sources: Executive Agencies with
Environmental Responsibilities (box) 412
Working with Sources: Environmental Policy Advocacy
(box) 417
Working with Sources: Evaluating Environmental and
19
Energy Policy (box) 420
Comparison of Growth Areas and Emissions, 1980–2015
(figure) 421
Chapter 12
Steps to Analysis: The National Security Agency and
Domestic Surveillance (box) 447
Steps to Analysis: What Is the Cost of the Global War on
Terrorism? (box) 460
Foreign Aid Given by OECD Countries, Total (in billions of
dollars) and as Percent of Gross National Income, 2015
(figure) 462
Top Foreign Aid Recipients, 2016, Including Military
Assistance, Estimated (figure) 463
Steps to Analysis: Should Passenger Aircraft Be Equipped
with Antimissile Defense Systems? (box) 470
Chapter 13
Steps to Analysis: Money in Politics (box) 506
Steps to Analysis: Using Websites to Influence Public
Opinion and Policy Debate (box) 509
20
Preface
Forecasts about likely future conditions often are hard to make. But we can
be sure of one thing. Health care costs are going to soar in the coming
decades as the baby boom generation continues to age and demands an
array of increasingly expensive medical services. From 2008 through
2013, U.S. health care spending grew by less than 4 percent annually, one
of the lowest rates in more than fifty years, providing some modest relief
from what had been an unrelenting upward spiral in costs. In 2014, the rate
increased somewhat from these levels, rising to 5.3 percent, following a
2.9 percent rise in 2013, largely because of expanded coverage under the
Affordable Care Act; and in 2015, the rate increased again, to 5.8 percent.
Total health care spending rose to a record high of $3.2 trillion in 2015, or
almost 18 percent of the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP). The
United States spent $9,900 per person for health care in 2015, a figure
certain to grow substantially over the next decade. Indeed, the Centers for
Medicare and Medicaid Services projects that per capita spending on
health care by 2025 will be an astonishing $16,032 and that overall health
care spending will rise to $5.6 trillion, or nearly 20.1 percent of GDP.
The new spending figures were released in late 2016, more than six years
after President Barack Obama succeeded in gaining approval from
Congress for his sweeping changes in health care policy, the Patient
Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, also known as Obamacare.
One purpose of the act was to slow the rate of increase in the nation’s
health care spending. Whatever effects the complex and far-reaching act
may have, assuming that it survives continuing legal challenges and
opposition by Republicans in Congress as well as the administration of
President Donald Trump, we are still likely to see an ongoing rise in
national health care costs. What is the best way to deal with these
ballooning costs, particularly in light of other trends—for example,
continuing high levels of obesity—that could drive up costs even further?
How should we protect the solvency of the Medicare trust fund as
demands from baby boomers threaten to bankrupt it and jeopardize
benefits for future generations? Indeed, what forms of health care and
Social Security will be available to the generation of citizens now in their
teens and twenties? What are the alternatives from which we must choose,
and on what basis should we decide?
21
Such public policy decisions touch nearly every aspect of daily life in the
United States, although many people fail to recognize or fully understand
their impacts. Social Security reform, for example, may not seem terribly
urgent to most young people today, but it undoubtedly will shape the
quality of their lives decades down the road. This is why citizens need to
understand not only how governments make policy choices but also how
to evaluate those choices in what is often a sea of conflicting and
misleading information and arguments. We believe the reason to be
politically aware is simple: policymakers are more responsive to the
public’s preferences and needs and, in some cases, are more effective
when citizens take a greater interest in public affairs and play a more
active role in the policymaking process. We hope this text stimulates
readers’ interest and concern while equipping them with the skills they
need to think critically and creatively about policy problems.
22
must be addressed before students encounter these powerful tools of the
trade. In Part I, we demonstrate that public policy choices are not made in
a vacuum. Social, economic, political, and cultural contexts matter, as do
the distinguishing characteristics of the U.S. government and the rationales
behind government intervention. An understanding of the structure of
institutions, the motivation of policy actors (both formal and informal),
and the unique nature of the U.S. political system will allow students to
comprehend the complexity of government while discovering
opportunities for engagement with the process. We present multiple
perspectives on the policymaking process, from elite theory to rational
choice theory, but concentrate on the policy process model—a portrayal of
policymaking as a sequence of key activities from agenda setting to policy
implementation—that is used in the rest of the book. We hope these
chapters encourage students to ask how decisions are made as well as why
they are made in one way and not another.
Part II gets to the heart of the book and explains the approaches and
methods of policy analysis, laying a foundation for dissecting and
understanding public problems and policy choices. With careful
application of the tools and perspectives of policy analysis, students can
interpret complex and conflicting data and arguments, evaluate alternative
courses of action, and anticipate the consequences of policy choices.
Specific cases—from tax cuts and cell phone use by drivers to immigration
reform and energy policy—illustrate both the difficulty of policy analysis
and its value in policymaking. Students learn how to find and interpret
policy-relevant information and to acquire an understanding of the
limitations to what government can do about public problems. The
evaluative criteria at the book’s core—a focus on effectiveness, efficiency,
and equity—train students to think clearly about policy alternatives.
Ethical considerations necessarily receive considerable attention as do the
more common concerns over effectiveness and efficiency. Brief case
studies, such as those involving organ donation, personal privacy in
relation to homeland security goals, national energy policy and climate
change, and the morality of contraceptive coverage under the Affordable
Care Act, give students the opportunity to grapple with controversial
issues for which no policymaker has the answer.
23
and foreign policy and homeland security—represent a substantial part of
contemporary U.S. policymaking and also present a diversity of economic,
political, and ethical issues for analysis. This part of the text offers a clear
picture of the issues that beginning analysts would encounter in
policymaking or in the evaluation of all areas of public policy. For readers
who want to probe more deeply into those policy areas that we discuss
peripherally—for instance, criminal justice and civil rights and liberties—
we strongly recommend Issues for Debate in American Public Policy
(2017), which offers selections from the CQ Researcher and abundant
references to current policy debates.
Consistent with the text’s emphasis on analysis, we begin each policy area
chapter with a brief illustration of a policy scenario, such as the rising
costs of health care and the gap between spending and results, the
persistence of poverty in the United States, conflicts over energy policy
and climate change, and the balance between domestic surveillance by the
National Security Agency (NSA) and civil liberties, to spark student
interest. A background section describes the public problems faced and the
solutions chosen to date. We briefly summarize major policies and
programs, discuss when and how they came into effect, review available
policy evaluations, and suggest how students can investigate policy
alternatives. At the end of each chapter, we offer a focused discussion of
policy reform in terms of several of the key evaluative criteria used
throughout the text, particularly effectiveness, efficiency, equity, and
ethics. These discussions link closely to the kinds of questions that can be
asked about any proposal for policy change and how it might be addressed.
In Part IV, a concluding chapter brings together the arguments of the text,
evaluates opportunities for citizen involvement in policymaking, and looks
to future challenges in public policy.
24
objectives that begin each chapter; they help to guide students on key
chapter content and takeaways. Graphics in Parts I and II of the book
provide illustrations of processes and functions essential to policymaking,
enlivening the text and providing more material for visual learners.
Throughout, the content benefits from a new interior layout that we began
in the last edition to refresh the book’s look and bring a splash of color.
Special Features
To underscore the importance we place on active learning and critical
engagement, we include two unique text boxes to guide students as they
research policy problems: “Working with Sources” and “Steps to
Analysis.” The Working with Sources feature identifies important sources
of information and how to utilize them, providing step-by-step suggestions
on how to make good (and critical) use of the information found on
Internet sites—among other resources—that offer important data sources
and policy perspectives. The Steps to Analysis feature invites critical
thinking about specific policy problems. It demonstrates how to ask the
urgent questions that drive policy analysis, and then presents ways to
narrow and refine these questions into feasible projects. To further direct
students to the information they need, discussion questions at the end of
each chapter get at, for instance, the “best” way to deal with health care
concerns, environmental problems, education issues, or homeland security.
These questions are followed by annotated suggested readings, suggested
websites, a list of major legislation where appropriate, a list of keywords,
and chapter notes. Students will find a list of references and a glossary at
the end of the book as well. All have been updated for this edition of the
text.
25
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
VIDA
DO
DR. GREGORIO DE MATTOS GUERRA
A nossa Sé da Bahia,
Com ser um mappa de festas,
É um presepe de bestas,
Si não fôr estrebaria:
Varias bestas cada dia
Vejo que o sino congrega:
Caveira mula gallega,
Deão burrinha bastarda,
Pereira mula de albarda,
Que tudo da Sé carrega.
Com estas prendas fazia apreço particular de uma viola, que por
suas curiosas mãos fizera de cabaço, frequentado divertimento de
seus trabalhos, e nunca sem ella foi visto nas funcções a que seus
amigos o convidavam, recreando-se muito com a brandura suave de
suas vozes. Por esta viola, que havia deixado na Madre de Deus,
fazia extremos taes, receiando que sem ella o embarcassem, que o
vigario Manuel Rodrigues, a quem feriam na alma suas desgraças,
promptamente lh’a mandou com um liberal donativo para as cordas
d’ella.
D. João, chegada a hora de embarcar, o mandou vir á sua
presença, e tractando-o com humanidade de principe lhe pediu que
evitasse as occasiões de sua perdição ultima; porque era lastima
que uma pessoa, a quem o céu enriquecêra de talento para melhor
fama, comprasse o seu discredito com o discredito irremediavel de
tantos. Decorosamente o fez embarcar, não se olvidando de
recommenda-lo ao governador de Angola Pedro Jacques de
Magalhães, a quem com a causa d’aquelle degredo insinuava os
perigos que em qualquer parte corria sua pessoa.
Chovendo maldições e praguejando satyras peregrinou os mares
aquelle que por instantes naufragava nas tempestades da terra.
Dizia elle que com razão sobrada podia articular o non possidebis
ossa mea de Scipião; e fallou com rigoroso acêrto: porque se
houveram patrias no mundo que desterraram seus benemeritos
filhos, não consistiu talvez essa desgraça tanto na malicia d’ellas,
como no destino d’estes. Porém a Bahia dos muitos habitos de
desprezar seus naturaes fez natureza para aborrece-los e persegui-
los. A melhor pintura d’esta verdade se póde ver nas vozes que
sôbre ella declama o mesmo poeta, onde sem hyperbole de Musas
resplandece a propriedade tal, que eu com ser extrangeiro
acreditava a poesia com o juramento dos Sanctos Evangelhos.
As personagens de quem o poeta justamente se queixa em suas
satyras são comparadas a uma herva natural de Guiné, chamada
aquelle terreno Nhesiquè, e transplantada neste com o nome de
Melão de S. Caetano, por virem as primeiras a um sitio d’este nome;
a qual de sorte se apoderou do Brazil em toda parte, que não ha
logar sem ella, nem planta que prevaleça com sua inutil visinhança.
As casas de religião enriquecidas e illustradas pelos curiosos e
liberaes mazombos, e sempre nellas laborando petulantes
opposições a parcialidade dos Reinóes admittidos alli por com
miseração. Ingratos hospedes! Mas si algum tivesse desejos de
padecer martyrio, fallar nesta materia queixoso causaria ao menos
um degredo similhante ao do doutor Gregorio de Mattos.
Não poderá negar-me a razão, que choro, quem sabe que no
anno de 1740 mandou o provincial de S. Francisco conduzir do
Porto uma chusma de pobretões, em desprezo dos pacientissimos
naturaes da terra, para adorno da sua religião, e nunca o demonio
acertou com esta destreza para combater o animo de Job. Chegam
finalmente a aborrecer os mesmos filhos sem maior causa que
haverem nascido no Brazil, onde receberam cabedal, e inundando
por toda a parte em que os brazileiros os honram e estimam, em
nenhuma d’ellas querem soffrer que haja honra nem estimação nos
brazileiros.
Fazendo porém verdadeira distincção nos nossos naturaes que
são comprehendidos nesta miseria, culparei sómente os das
fecundissimas provincias da Beira e Minho (salvando os nobres), e é
de reparar que sendo estes os que com maior necessidade se
lançam a buscar dinheiro, são estes mesmos aquelles cuja suberba
é tão formidavel a quem os remedeia. Vejamos ésta queixa
allegorisada pela nossa aguia sôbre o gato de um meirinho: