Transcript Chapter 15: Public Policy

Chapter 17: Public Policy
Making
I. Setting the Agenda
A.
Most important decision affecting
policy-making is deciding what
belongs on political agenda
What is on the political agenda today
4/16/13?
1. Pre-1930s agenda?; today?
B. The legitimate scope of government action
1. Always gets larger
a. what explains increase?
b. Is any one political party responsible?
a. believe should keep doing what it is
doing
b. changes in attitude and events tend to
increase government activities
c. Gov’t. growth not attributed to one
party
2. May also be enlarged w/out public demand and
even when conditions are good.
a. Groups- motivated force in adding new issues
1. Maybe organized or disorganized
2. Labor; race riots
b. relative deprivation: being worse off than one
thinks one ought to be
b. Institutions are a second force
adding new issues
1. Major institutions:
II. Making a decision
Nature of Issue
1. Affects the kind of groups that become
politically active
2. Affects intensity of political conflict
B. Costs and benefits of a proposed policy
provide a way to understand how issue
affects political power
A.
1. Cost: any burden, monetary or
nonmonetary that some people must,
or expect, to bear from the policy
2. Benefit: any satisfaction,
monetary/non that some people must,
or expect, to receive from the policy
3. Two aspects of costs and benefits are
important
a. perception of costs and benefits
affects politics
b. legitimate for the group to benefit
4. Politics is a process of settling disputes
over who benefits/pays and who ought to
benefit/pay
5. Prefer programs w/ benefits at low
cost
Crime Policy
War on Drugs: Should we Surrender?
Goal of Drug-Crime Policy?
Discourage drug use
Discourage drug sales
Punish drug use
Punish drug sales
Stop drug-related violence & theft
Stop drug-related corruption
Drug Abuse in America
Costs of the Drug War
Federal spending: $19 billion/yr
- $13 billion to reduce supply
- $6 billion for treatment
State spending: $20 billion/yr
1.7 million people incarcerated
- 30% for drug crimes
- $20,000 per inmate per year
Costs of the Drug War
Enormous drug profits
- kilo of heroin in Pakistan costs an
average of $2,720, and sells for an
average of $129,380 in the U.S.
Corruption of Law Enforcement
Violent crime
Distributed
Concentrated
Perceived Benefits
Distributed
Majoritarian
Politics
Client Politics
Perceived Costs
Concentrated
Entrepreneurial
Politics
Interest Group
Politics
III. Majoritarian Poliitcs
A.
Widely distributed benefits, widely
distributed costs
1. Social Security
2. Military/Defense
3. Interest Groups- less relevant of
“free rider” problem
Social Welfare in the U.S.
Distinctive features:
- who benefits; who deserves to; helping
the “deserving poor”
- late arrival- 22 European nations already
had social welfare systems
- federalism and the constitution
- use of nongovernmental institutions
charitable choice
A Closer Look @ Majoritarian
Politics
Social Welfare Policy
1. Major Social Welfare
Programs
a. Old age, Survivors, and
Disability Insurance
(aka- Social Security)
b. Medicare left out
THESE ALL HAVE MEANS
TEST- Assistance Programs
c. Unemployment Insurance
d. Temporary Assistance for Needy
Families (TANF)
e. Supplemental
Security Income
f. Food Stamps
g. Medicaid
Medicare
1964- Medicare brought to the table
- apply only to the aged
- cover hospital expenses and
doctors bills
- Medicaid- medical assistance for
the poor
Medicare ABCDs
Part A: hospital insurance; some pay
premium, some do not
Part B: medical insurance; 2007
premium was $93.50
Part C: Medicare Advantage Plus
Part D: prescription drug coverage;
participation is voluntary
Reforming Majoritarian
Welfare Programs
Social Security Reform- $4 trillion
shortfall over next 75 years!
- Raise the retirement age
- reduce benefits for high earners
- raise payroll taxes
- increase the wage cap
- government investment
- individual investment
Medicare Reform
Solution 1: get rid of it! Doctors and
hospitals work for government!
Solution 2: let elderly use medicare
money to buy health insurance
Majoritarian Politics and
Environmental Policy
When people believe costs are low
1.
NEPA (National Environmental Policy Act)
- requires EIS to determine affect on
quality of human environment
- used as a way to block, change, or delay
projects
- support for EIS is strong be/c people
believe they are not paying a high price,
but gaining significant benefit
When costs are high!
1.
Gasoline Tax
- one option- discourage driving, reduce
smog, etc.
- another option- would result in more
highways, more buses, etc.
IV. Interest Group Politics
A.
Concentrated benefits,
concentrated costs
1. Confer benefits on small,
identifiable group; costs on another
small, identifiable group
2. Fought out by organized interest
groups
A Closer Look @ Interest
Group Politics
Environmental Policy:
Effects of Acid Rain
1. Steel Mills/Electric
Power Plants of
Midwest and Great
Lakes Region
2. Eastern U.S. and Canada
Suffer effects
Result- Interest
Group Battle:
Residents of Canada
/New England v.
Midwestern Bus.,
labor unions, and politicians
1977 Law requiring
“scrubbers” on all
new coal-burning
plants
13 year stalemate followed (typical of
interest group politics)
End result: compromise
President Bush- 2 step regulation
1. 111 power plants required to reduce emissions by fixed
amount by 1995
2. Shaper emissions reductions for more plants, requiring use
of scrubbers by 2000
a. system of sulfur dioxide allowances that could be bought
and sold
V. Client Politics
A.
Small group receives benefits; incentive to
organize and build coalitions (logrolling)
A.
Beneficiaries become “clients” of government
be/c policy serves need
1. Pork-barrel projects
2. Logrolling: trading votes, forming coalitions
D. Agency capture is likely
Welfare recipients:
- cost to taxpayer?
- legitimacy of benefit?
Homeless
- not organized, but get benefits
Tobacco farmers
- once legitimate, not any more
Closer Look @ Client Politics
Environmental Policy: Agricultural Pesticides
Client- organized
farmers
Resist efforts to
restrict the use
of pesticides
and/or
control runoff
Issues: U.S. farmers most productive in the
world
50,000 types of pesticides
Farm subsidies encourage surplus
Successes: EPA budget for reviewing
pesticides kept small and very few taken
off market
Client Welfare Programs
Social Security Act of 1935
- created AFDC
- deserving poor- then and now
- government regulation: medicaid, job
training, child care, identify children’s
fathers, food stamps, EITC, free school
meals, housing assistance, etc.
Majoritarian v. Client Politics
Majoritarian- policy will be adopted if
beneficiaries believe benefits will exceed
costs and if political elites believe it is
legitimate
Client- policy will pass if cost to public at
large is not perceived to be to great and if
client receiving benefit is “deserving”
VI. Entrepreneurial Politics
A.
B.
C.
Gives benefits to large numbers
Cost imposed on small and
identifiable group
Success depends on people working
on behalf of majorities (Ralph
Nader)
1. Entrepreneurs can be in
government or private citizens
2. Motives- self-serving or public
spirited
3. Policies can be good or bad
A Closer Look @
Entrepreneurial
The Endangered Species Act of 1973
-
-
prohibits buying or selling a bird, fish,
animal, or plant that government regards as
“endangered”
Can’t build dam or farm that may harm an
endangered species
600 species on list
Bald eagle v. snail darter
Ben Cone v. The Red Cockaded Woodpecker
7,200 acres of southern pines- biologist
found species on property
Ben Cone forced to give up 1,560 acres of
trees to protect species
Foreign and Military Policy
1.
Kinds of foreign policy:
- majoritarian- decision to go to war,
military alliance w/ Western Europe,
nuclear test ban treaty, etc.
* President dominant figure
- interest group- tariffs; Japanese steel
- client politics- support of Isreal
* Congres is dominant
The Two Presidencies
1.
Domestic affairs:
- relatively weak and closely checked
2.
Foreign Affairs:
- powerful; stronger than intent of
framers
- compared to other nations
Checks on Presidential Power
1.
Limitations on military or economic
aid to other countries
- Turkey 1974-1978
- Angolan Civil War
2. The War Powers Act
3. Intelligence Oversight
- CIA must notify congressional
committees of proposed covert action
- House and Senate Intelligence
Committees
Worldviews
1.
Isolationism
2. Containment
3.
Disengagement
4.
Human Rights
VII. The Case of Business
Regulation
A.
Relationship of wealth and power
1. One View: economic power dominates
political power
a. wealth = power
b. politicians and business people have
similar backgrounds = ideology
c. must keep economy healthy
2. Another view- political power is
threat to market economy
3. Neither is correct; business-gov’t
relationships depend on many things.
B. Majoritarian Politics
1. Antitrust legislation in 1890s
a. public opinion strong but unfocused
b. legislation vague; no enforcement
2. Legislation stronger in 20th century
a. Presidential initiative
b. politicians/bus. Leaders committed
c. Fed. Trade Commission; Clayton Act
C. Interest Group Politics
1. Labor-management conflict
a. 1935- unions seek gov’t. protection;
bus. Firms oppose
1. Unions win = NLRB
2. Politics of the conflict affected
outcomes
a. highly publicized struggle
b. economic conditions and racketeering
D. Client Politics
1. Agency capture likely when benefits
focused and cost dispersed
2. Licensing of attorneys, barbers
a. restricts entry into occupation
1. Can charge higher prices
b. people not opposed
1. Believe regulation protect them
2. Costs not obvious
3. Regulation of milk industry; sugar
production; merchant shipping
a. prevents price competition; keeps price
high
b. public unaware of high prices
E. Entrepreneurial Politics- entrepreneurs
galvanize public opinion and mobilize
congressional support
1. 1906- Pure Food and Drug Act
2. 1960s and ‘70s: large number of
consumer and environmental protection
statutes
a. Clean Air Act; Toxic Substance
Control Act
3. Policy entrepreneurs associated
with these measures- Ralph Nader;
Edmund Muskie, Upton Sinclair
a. assisted by crisis; scandal which
focuses public attention on issue
b. debate may become extreme
4. Risk of such programs: agency may be
captured by regulated industry
a. Newer protection agencies less
vulnerable to capture:
1. Standards specific; timetables strict
2. Regulate many different industries =
no unified opposition
3. Allies in the media
4. Can use courts to bring pressure
on agencies
Perceptions, beliefs, interests,
and values
A.
Problem of definition
1. Cost and benefits not define in $ terms
only
2. Cost/benefits a matter of perception
3. Political conflict is struggle to alter
perception
B.
Types of Arguments used
1. Here and Now- people care more
about the present than the distant
future
2. Cost argument- people react more
strongly to costs than to benefits
C. Role of Values
1. Values: our conception of what is
good for our community or our
country
2. Emphasis on self-interest leads to
neglecting power of ideas.