Public Policy
- Policymakers (e.g., members of Congress) make policy
in order to please somebody
- Their own interests
- Interest groups (e.g.,
labor, business)
- The public (e.g., public opinion)
- Who were the president
and Congress trying to please with the Affordable Care Act?
- Six-Step Policy Process:
Problem Identification > Agenda Setting
> Formulation of Proposals >
Legitimation of Proposals >
Implementation > Evaluation
- Evaluation: Does it work? Is
society better off? This begins the process all over again!
Policy
Models
- Model: a simplified representation. Models of how public policy
comes about:
Instruments of Policy
- Government has a range of devices available:
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Social Welfare
Policy «
- Catalyst:
Great Depression of 1929/1930s
- collapse of private
charity, bank failures
-
John Maynard Keynes: What to do about the business
cycle?
- Traditionally, governments cut back in a depression…
- Keynes’ answer: Demand-side
economics – create demand
- Prosperity: Cut back,
Depression: Spend
Public Policy and Money
- Appropriation
- Budget proposal
- Incrementalism (line-item budgeting)
- Entitlements
- Deficits
- Our nation's growth and industrialization had consequences:
Interdependence
Redistribution
- Interdependence brings not only conflict, but also potential
for harm to people through no fault of their own...
- Techniques
- Fiscal:
Taxing & spending
- Monetary: Credit (money) supply
Social Welfare
Policy
- Types
- Most?* Elderly
(~$1.5t), Mid. Class (~$2.2t)
- Fewer * benefits: Poor (~$600b)
*2015 estimates
(nationalpriorities.org, based on OMB data)
- Policies:
Education, Job Train, Health, Housing
- Economically successful, but political problematic…
- We reward politicians
for keeping taxes low and spending high all the time!
- Result: chronic
deficit spending
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