PSCI 1040 1st Edition Lecture 10 Outline of Last Lecture Bureaucracy Outline of Current Lecture General Points Controls on the Bureaucracy Inspectors General Regulation or Deregulation Current Lecture Bureaucratic Policy Making General Points Bureaucracies do not make laws they make policies They have a lot of leeway as to how they are going to implement a law that Congress passes Agencies generally have broad discretion Administrative Decision The Exercise of Discretion Typically vial rule making the issuance of relations published for public comment in the federal register Discretion Congress is vague in its policy directives difficult to envision every scenario lack of congressional expertise If congress was too specific resulting in myriad rules it would be difficult for bureaucracies to adapt inflexibility Congress are not experts on things They know a little about a lot The purpose of bureaucrats is to be policy specialists These notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor s lecture GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes not as a substitute Implementation The process by which a law or policy is put into operation by the bureaucracy Translating congressional legislation into action Regulations allow for Implementation Agencies develop regulations regulations are a set of rules that guide employees of the agency in carrying out services regulations have the rule of law after they are published in the federal register Federal Register The journal that published draft regulations that implement a federal program The official record of what goes on in DC New Legislation can Change the Bureaucracy Laws that are passed by congress often include the development or modification of existing federal programs or services Example 1935 social security Act Whenever congress passes a law it needs a bureaucracy to implement it So sometimes a new bureaucracy has to be created for that law The department of homeland security was created after the attacks on 9 11 Key Concepts Iron Triangles Clientel Agency Issue Networks These two things are competing perspectives on how bureaucracy world Iron Triangle A stable mutually beneficial political relationship among a congressional committee or subcommittee administrative agency and organized interested concerned with a particular policy domain When you think of iron triangle think CLOSED system Clientel Agency Executive departments directed by law to foster and promote the interests of a specific segment or group in the US population Examples Department of Agricultures Department of Labor Issue Network OPEN system Lots of interest groups and bureaucracies come in and out of the picture They are more informal and highly variable web of relationships among representatives of various interests who are involved in a particular area of policy Controls on the Bureaucracy Principal Agent Theory The relationship between an employer and an employee Difficulties Adverse Selection The idea that Congress does not have much inputs on their bureaucrats and bureaucracies Congress has very little input on who their employees are Moral Hazard The idea that Congress does not have the capability to see what their agents do Ex bureaucratic agencies and therefore the agents can shrunk their obligations to their principals without penalty They can just ignore a policy that they do not want it to be enforced Agency Problem Bureaucrat agent seeks to maximize budget Leads to systematic overproduction of bureau goods and services wasteful They use all of their extra money at the end of the year and then ask for more If they don t spend that money they ll get less the next year The principal politician wants to control costs but faces an agency problem The only reliable information on the costs of the bureau comes from the bureau itself Indirect Oversight Tools Agencies create and can be abolished by Congress Congressional input into staffing agencies senatorial courtesy Hearings and Investigations Conducted by committees subcommittees Mandatory Reports requirements that an agency check in with Congress They are obligated to give Congress updates Congress may require agencies to report on certain aspects of their programs May be part of legislation authorizing continued existence of the agency Committee Reports Reports instructing agencies about how Congress wants something done They are not legally binding but bureaucracies do no ignore the instructions because congress could do away with the committee require specific reports or other things Congress can take more drastic steps if they do not abide by their request Inspectors General GAO and CBO GAO General Accounting Office Responsibilities track money spent by agencies review policy implementation CBO Congressional Budget Office Responsibilities provide economic expertise to Congress Conduct oversight studies Presidential Tools Presidential input into staffing OMB Responds to the President OMB office of management and budget oversees agency budgets and rule making Executive Order Rules or regulations issued by the president that have the effect of the law Regulation or Deregulation Regulation grows the bureaucracy supported by many democrats liberals federal standards Deregulation Shirks the bureaucracy supported by many republicans and conservatives freedom of the market and or the states to regulate themselves Maintaining Competition Strong firms may drive out less efficient firms Result Domination of the market by a few businesses Policing Natural Monopolies Definition a monopoly that does not arise form government intervention in the marketplace to protect a favored firm from competition by rather from special characteristics of the production process in the industry under the current state of technology Ex monopoly of computer systems Most Americans have either an apple or a windows operating system If apple bought out windows there would be no more competition Reducing Externalities Definition A cost imposed on persons not party to a contract of transaction Example air pollution Reducing Externalities Definition A cost imposed on persons not party to a contract or transaction Example air pollution Can t stop air when it reaches another state border We need to reduce these problems so that they do not effect other places Higher Prices Restriction of competition may ultimately result in deriving prices up Foreign Competition Foreign countries may not require firms to meet same