Creative Policy In 21st Century America

American Public Policy

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Public Policy—A Little Terminology

Public Policy is the sum of government activities, whether pursued directly or through government contractors.

Policy choices are decisions by politicians, civil servants, and others granted authority that lead to the emergence of a policy that can be put into action

Policy outputs are choices or policies put into action

Policy impacts are the effects that policy choices and policy outputs have on citizens

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Governments in the Thousands

American has some 90 thousand governments counting all those at the federal, state and local levels.

They make hundreds of thousands of decisions (policies) every year.

To effectively deal with public needs and national security these governments have to pass legislation and regulations, amend existing policies to make them work better, and design and implement policies to deal with future problems and needs.

Often it is prudent for governments to make and implement policies or changes in policies many years in advance of problems (e.g. social security, major airports, transportation systems).

Failure to plan for the future can create very serious problems.

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The Environment of Public Policy

In a democracy policy is not constructed in a vacuum. It is generally public, transparent and the result of compromise (very different than say China or Singapore).

Because policy may be very difficult to pass, it may focus on short-term results and not be carefully reasoned or sometimes even very logical.

American politics are relatively conservative in policy terms. We have weak labor unions and groups considered radical (left or right) are usually rejected over time in American history.

Despite the debates about taxes, America is not a high tax country and it does not rank high among western industrial welfare states.

Among western nations the United States is generally considered a mixed economy (a mix of free enterprise and government) and a welfare state laggard.

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What is Public Policy? 7

The Design of the Federal Government

The structure of our government makes decision-making very difficult.

It is better designed to prevent legislation from being passed than to pass legislation.

This is particularly true where complex public policies are concerned—environmental issues, health care, etc.

Money plays a major role in our system because of the nature of our elections, and the role of interest groups.

More recently, ideology has become increasingly important as Congress has become more polarized.

The result is that groups that have the money, power and expertise to represent their needs tend to have disproportionate power.

This semester you will see that money (more often than logic or even public need) is often the best explanation of why policies pass or fail.

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Policy is put into effect through instruments such as services, taxes, fines, financial grants, subsidies. The chosen instrument reflects:

the probable effectiveness of the instrument

the political palatability of the instrument

experiences of the policy designers

national or organizational traditions

Most choices of an instrument are made out of habit and familiarity, not out of certain knowledge of the effectiveness of the instrument

The Instruments of Public Policy

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Law as an Instrument

Government power comes from the fact that it has legimitate authority and power to implement its decisions.

Law is used to regulate economic and social conditions

Law can be used to create both benefits and burdens

Law is used to produce rights…

Civil Rights Act of 1965

Equal Employment Opportunity Act of 1972

Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990

Rights are the most fundamental benefit conferred by democracies such as the United States

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Government Services Benefit Everyone

Governments provide services, ranging from defense to education to recreation, highways and bridges, insurance for farmers, insurance for bank deposits, police and fire protection.

Everyone benefits from universal education, streets and bridges, public transportation, fire and police protection, national defense, consumer protection laws, food, air and water safety standards, etc.

Government services are so extensive that sometimes we debate the question of whether it is more efficient for government to directly provide services or if they should be contracted out or privatized.

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Money as an Instrument

Governments collect money and then distribute it to citizens, organizations, and other governments.

Approximately 65 percent of all federal taxes is returned to the public as transfers (e.g., Social Security, unemployment benefits, EITC), and 12 percent of tax receipts is transferred to other levels of government.

As you will see during the semester, all citizens receive government services, but many Americans who receive services such as Medicare, Social Security, educational loans, etc. believe that government does nothing for them.

Many citizens forget that major services such as Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security are government programs.

They even attend anti-government rallies with signs that say things like: “Tell the government to keep its hands off Medicare.”

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Federal Grants

States and cities often receive Block and Categorical grants.

Block grants allow a lot of discretion in expenditures while categorical grants permit resources to be channeled more directly to problems:

centralizes public policy decision making in Washington, DC

tends to encourage state and local spending through matching provisions

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Taxes as an Instrument

The way that the government chooses to tax can be important in changing the distribution of income and wealth and burdens and benefits in society.

Direct taxes (income, sales taxes) are easy to understand and feel.

Tax expenditures or deductions (sometimes called loopholes) can be used as indirect policy instruments.

Tax expenditures as an economic instrument reflects the theory that granting tax relief is the same as subsidizing an activity, but tax policy is less expensive to administer given that citizens make the decisions and then file their own tax returns

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Other Economic Instruments

Other economic instruments include…

supplying credit for certain activities (e.g., purchase of farmland, crop insurance, purchase of homes)

guaranteeing loans to make credit available (e.g., student loans)

insuring certain activities and property (e.g., federal flood insurance)

These are important activities, but do not appear on listings of government expenditures

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Suasion

When other instruments fail, the government may appeal to a moral standard, speak in the public interest, or appeal to citizens' sense of patriotism…

Theodore Roosevelt's use of the "bully pulpit"

Lyndon Johnson's "jawboning" the steel industry to roll back price increases

Franklin D. Roosevelt on the depression and WWII.

Obama’s messages on taxes and guns

Suasion may improve the effectiveness of government if the government is viewed as a legitimate expression of the public interest

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Participation

Citizen participation in direct policy making and even in terms of voting is low.

Unlike some countries voting or other types of political participation is not mandatory in the United States

Government does play a role in protecting the vote and fostering participation…

A.The federal courts have set guidelines for voter registration, prohibiting long residence requirements or short registration periods.

B.The federal courts have prohibited a lot of barriers to voting—poll taxes, white primaries and other barriers.

C.The courts have become involved in examining recent state laws requiring particular types of identification for voters.

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Wealth Plays a Number of Roles in Policy Making

The United States is the single largest economy in the world, but China will at some point overtake us. India may also pass America one day.

Wealth enables governments to fund a wide variety of policy initiatives

The wealth in the United States is always under threat by challenges such as:

dependence on other regions of the world for critical products—e.g. oil

Other raw materials such as rare metals.

jobs

Educated employees

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Some Policy is the Result of our Role as a World Leader

Much of the world looks to America for leadership

This leadership role places some important burdens on U.S. policymakers…

United States plays an important and often very expensive role in peacekeeping.

The current debate about Chuck Hagel concerns the debate about America’s role in the world.

the U.S. dollar is the major reserve currency of the world