Chapter 1 Public Policy Models Key Concepts How are policy problems and solutions defined Do policy problems always precede policy solutions How do political interests place items on the policy agenda for consideration What are the expected benefits of studying public policy What are the major areas of the policymaking process Why do some policy issues never seem to make it on the agenda Why do some policies register little change over lengthy periods only to then give way to a What are the critical features of a theoretical model of public policy rapid burst of change Studying Public Policy Public Policy Why Study Public Policy The Study of Public Policy Government action designed to address the demands of a set of citizens to resolve a social issue The systematic scientific analysis of government activity including laws regulations and funding priorities and its influence on society o o Accountability Efficiency Gains Equity of Policy Delivery Accountability Accountability Consent of the Governed o Whose interests precisely are being served by the government o o The study of public policy attempts to answer In order for democracy to succeed the governed must consent to the ruling government body In order to consent citizens must be informed of government actions The process by which polices are passed and implemented o o Why specific policies are pursued and why others are not How well do government actions fit citizen demands o Efficiency Gains Policy Efficiency o Whether the resources time and energy of a policy are delivering the greatest policy outcomes for a given level of resources Which policies most effectively solve the underlying problem at the lowest cost How can we improve policies to o o Cost less Provide more o Ideally both Equity of Policy Delivery o Wealth o o Ethnic Makeup Economic Class Competing Interests The U S Context Equity o The extent to which a government delivers the benefits of a policy evenly across all communities Are all communities treated equally or do certain communities benefit disproportionally Federalism Executive and Legislative Competition o o o o o o o o Nation state local National and state possess constitutions Different goals and policy preferences Executive president governor mayor Legislative two houses at the national and state level Goals and policy preferences often vary between branches Often varying goals and preferences between members of legislative National State and Local all possess an array or criminal civil and administrative courts Judiciary o Prosecute violations of executive and legislative Democracy vs Autocracy Democracy makes policymaking difficult Competing interests institutional barriers and public opinion make solving societal problems tedious and costly Likely better than the autocracy Citizens have control over government Governments must appease citizens to stay in power Many forms of Government have been tried and will be tried in this world of sin and woe No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all wise Indeed it has been said that democracy is the worst form of Government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time Winston Churchill The Policy Making Process Proposed by Harold Laswell 1951 A heuristic demonstrating the pathways by which policies are identified proposed evaluated implemented and terminated 7 stages o o o o o o o o o Problem and Solution Identification Agenda Setting Policy Formulation Alternative Formulation Policy Selection and Adoption Policy Implementation o Policy Evaluation Step 1 Problem and Solution Identification How do social issues become defined as social problems Once social issues have been defined as social problems how are solutions to those problems identified Stakeholders Policy Demands Credible Action Those who are affected by a policy problem The demands exerted by stakeholders on the political actors The mechanism by which demands pressure leaders o o Who gets what is determined by pressure o That said collective action problems exist among stakeholders Connecting Problems to Solutions The Policy Entrepreneur o Willing to exert time and effort o o Has a stake in the solution Ability to link their preferred solution to the problem of others Step 2 Agenda Setting The process by which formal institutional centers of power will take up and potentially act on a policy solution Which demands do leaders actually decide to consider Factors that shape policy agendas o o o Preferences of Formal Actors Actors External to Formal Institutions Advocacy Coalitions External Shocks Step 3 Policy Formulation Who is really getting involved in this Who are the decision makers who are offering advice watching over it Gormley 1984 Salience and Technical Complexity TABLE SLIDE 18 Step 4 Alternative Formulation Policy solutions are drawn from a set of competing alternatives Whose ideas are considered o o Policy advocates Private organizations subsidize government effort by providing information Step 5 Policy Selection What do individual decision makers consider Political actors make a policy decision Likely a combination of many factors o o o o Political affiliation Political capture Their specific electorate Getting it right Getting it right often entails a cost benefit analysis Cost benefit analysis determines which policy provides the greatest benefits for the given costs Steps o o o o o o Identify the project List all benefits Assign value costs to the benefits in a common metric generally dollar amounts Apply discount rate Sum Costs and Benefits Choose policy whose gains most outweigh costs Step 6 Policy Implementation Implementation is any activity related to carrying out a duly passed policy Relies on a non elected government officials the bureaucracy The bureaucracy o Makes formal rules Enforces those rules o Provides services to clientele o Step 7 Policy Evaluation Policy evaluation is the systematic investigation of the effects of a policy on its intended social target once enacted How much of the original problem was solved Process should be policy neutral Models of Public Policy A model of public policy is a simplified representation of the causal relationships that link any number of policy inputs with a policy output of interest Models do not attempt to explain all aspects of the policy process Rather the goal of the policy scholar is to use careful logical construction of theoretical arguments to understand the most important elements of the
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