Chapter 1 Public Policy Models Studying Public Policy Public Policy Scientific analysis of government activities and how it impacts society the government s action in reaction to citizens demand on a social issue Why Study Public Policy Accountability Whose interests are being served by the government o Citizens must give consent to the government so they need to be informed of government actions need to know process by which policies are passed why what policies are pursued how well does the policy fit citizen s demand Efficiency Gains Do the resources time and energy of a policy deliver the greatest outcome low cost produce more Equitable Policy Delivery Are the benefits evenly distributed wealth ethnicity economic class Democratic Policy Making o Democracy difficult to get people to agree competing interests institutional barriers public opinion still better than autocracies o Autocracies dictatorship citizens have no say Policy Making Process the solutions political actors 1 Problem and Solution Identification how do social issues become social problems and what are a Stakeholders the people affected by a policy problem and they create a policy demand on b Credible action demands pressure leaders and these demands determines who gets what these collective action problems exist among stakeholders c Policy Entrepreneurs takes a lot of time and effort these people have a stake in the solution and an ability to link preferred solution to problems of others 2 Agenda Setting formal institutional centers of power take up and act on policy solutions a Factors that shape agendas preferences of formal actors actors outside of institutions external shocks 3 Policy Formation Low Complexity High Complexity Street Level lower level Hearing Room elected officials Low Salience bureaucrats High Salience public that s involved Board Room elites committees businesses Operating Room policy experts advocacy groups 4 Alternative Formulation policy solutions are drawn from a set of competing alternatives a Whose ideas are considered policy advocates private organizations 5 Policy Selection who are the competing interests how do they advocate their positions a Decision makers consider political affiliation their specific electorate getting it right b Cost benefit analysis identify projects list benefits assign costs to benefits apply discount rate sum costs and benefits chose policy where benefits outweigh the costs 6 Implementation any activity related to carrying out a policy relies on nonelected government officials the bureaucracy 7 Evaluation how much of the problem is solved Has the problem changed Models causal relationship that link policy inputs with a policy output Models of the Public Policy Input x independent causing o o Output y dependent explained Necessary Casualty o o o o o o o o Y doesn t exist unless x is present If x is present then y may or may not happen Example If x being 25 years old and y being elected to congress You have to be 25 to be elected to congress but not every 25 year old is congressmen women Sufficient Casualty Y always happens when x is present If y did happen then x may or may not have been present Example If x rain and y puddle Rain always causes puddles but puddles aren t always caused by rain Necessary and Sufficient Y only happens if x is present Example fire and smoke smoke only happens if there s fire Deterministic vs Probabilistic Relationships o Deterministic if x then always y o Probabilistic if x then likely y social science is probabilistic A Good Model is multivariate probabilistic parsimonious generalizable falsifiable clear logically consistent ideologically neutral Chapter 2 Individuals and Social Dilemmas Game Theory as a Tool Rational Choice individuals make choices based on what they believe is best individuals maximizing their own utility and selecting their preferred option Game Theory mathematical tool to study strategic decision making Exogenous externally determined actor has no impact on value is independent from other variables Endogenous internally determined actor has an impact on o Game theory is concerned with these relationships o What is the actor going to do What is their self interest Individual Action Personal Utility Maximization a rational choice is one that maximizes benefits and minimizes costs actor must be able to see all possible choices weigh the costs benefits express pursue what they think is best If actor is rational then they will choose choice with highest utility o o Ordinal Preferences rank preferences Example A 2 B 1 B is preferred o Cardinal Preferences continuous valuations Example A 2 B 1 A is preferred twice as much as B Cooperation and Collective Action Cooperative Problems o Example 2 loggers A and B cutting down trees in a forest Choices cooperate sustainability or defect destroy Game Set Up Player A is always rows player B is always columns Defect Cooperate Defect D D C D Cooperate D C C C o Actor Behavior both A and B want to act alone and maximize their utility Nash Equilibrium both defect no person can unilaterally improve their position given the other player s action o Assigning Payoffs Both cooperate so the forest is preserved and both are well off One defects while the other cooperates so the forest is harmed and one player gets larger share of profits while bearing no costs other bears costs with no benefits Both defect so forest is destroyed and both players suffer o Assigning Values Overcoming Cooperation costs of defecting o o Internalized Norms beliefs values and psychological costs players would suffer example your dad would hate you if you made a certain choice Enforcement third party that can punish people that defect example taxes In the next table each defect has a cost of 2 numbers that have cost of 2 are bolded Defect Cooperate Defect 2 2 1 4 Cooperate 4 1 3 3 Defect Cooperate Defect 0 0 1 2 Cooperate 2 1 3 3 Problems with enforcement have to find neutral third party pay enforcement costs accept that enforcement is flawed will never be perfect Barriers to Collective Action Multi person Cooperation Collective Action groups cooperate to achieve a common goal example protesting Problem There s always a cost does one person matter and what is the incentive o When there s more than two people in the game it gets complicated and there are even more outcomes Free riding when a person pays no cost but gets the benefits o o o Chapter 3 Public Policy as a Solution to Social Dilemmas
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