Huntingdon College Political Science Program
PSC 307: Public Policy Analysis.
Spring 2000 and 2002 Student Notes on
Thomas Dye, Understanding Public Policy.
Chapter Numbers are presently from old edition.
Compiled by Jeremy Lewis, revised 29 Jan 2002.
CONTENTS:

Chap. 01: Policy Analysis (2002)
Chap. 02: Models of Politics (2000)
Chap. 03: Civil Rights: Elite and Mass Interaction (2000)
Chap. 04: Criminal Justice (2000)
Chap. 05: Health and Welfare (2000)
Chap. 06: Education (2000)
Chap. 07: Environmental Policy (2000)
Chap. 08: Defense Policy
Chap. 09: Economic Policy  (2000)
Chap. 10: Tax Policy (2000 -- two versions)
Chap. 11: International Trade and Immigration (2000)
Chap. 12: American Federalism
Chap. 13: Inputs, Outputs -- State Policies
Chap. 14: Policymaking Process (2000)
Chap. 15: Policy Evaluation (2000)

Policy-public policy is whatever government chooses to do or not to do/ a projected program of goals, values and practices.
 -today people expect government to do a great many things for them
 -understanding the causes and consequences of policy decisions improves our knowledge of society
 -policy studies helps us learn about the linkage between social and economic conditions in society
 -policy studies incorporate the ideas and methods of economics, sociology, anthropology, psycology, history, law and public
administration
 -public policy can be studied for political purposes to ensure that the nation adopts the "right" policies to achieve the "right" goals
 -policy analysis is finding out what governments do, why they do it and what difference, if any it makes
 -learning about the consequences of public policy is often referred to as policy evaluation

policy analysis involves
1. a concern with explanation rather than presumption
2. a rigorous search of the causes and consequences of public policy
3. an effort to develop test general propositions about the causes and consequences of public policy and to accumulate reliable
findings of general relevance.

  -questionable that policy analysis can ever "solve" America's problems
  -policy analysis cannot offer solutions to problems when there is no general agreement on what the problems are
  -it cannot solve value conflicts
  -policy analysis is one activity for which there can be no fixed programs

1. Models of Politics - used to simplify, identify certain aspects, understand and explain policies

A. Institutional Model

1. Describe specific institutions and certain aspects of those institutions

• Also analyze the effect these aspects have on policy outputs

• Follows these steps

• Shows how decisions are made, and how they should be made
• Helps to understand activities involved in policy-making

• Interaction among groups is the central aspect of politics
• People come together through common interests
• Public policy is the equilibrium reached in a group struggle, which is political activity
• Parties are viewed as coalitions of groups

• People are apatheitc and ill-informed, therefore elite shapes mass opinion
• Implies public policy does not truly reflect the wants to the people as much as the elites
• Elitism views masses as passive and easily manipulated

• "achieves maximum social gain"
• Policy should never have costs that exceed gain
• Must know societies values, all alternatives, and the consequences of the alternatives

• Views public policy as a continuation of past gov’t activities with only small modifications
• conservative because it considers existing policy as a base, and new programs are ignored
• Believe that policies that are in effect has been proven, why alter what has proven effective

• Study of rational decisions where one choice depends on the outcome of another choice
• An abstract and deductive model of policy making
• More an analytic tool than a practical guide

• The economic study of nonmarket decision making
• Recognizes gov’t must perform certain functions that market is unable to handle
• Seen in elections, candidates are more concerned with winning than advancing principles

• Political system is a group of interrelated structures that allocate values for a society
• Sees public policy as an output of the political system
• By arrangin settlements, demands are transformed into output (policies)

1. Order and simplify reality
2. Identify what is significant
3. Congruent with reality
4. Provide meaningful communication
5. Direct inquiry and research
6. Suggest explanations

Three main propositions:

1. Civil rights policy is a response of a rational elite
2. Elite opinion leads mass opinion, not vice-versa
3. Conflict between mass and elite will define the limits of civil rights policy

• 14^th Amendment
• Segregation
• Brown decision
• Resistance to desegregation
• caused by executive intervention - 1957

• de facto segregation
• Federal court mandates
• busing
• gov’t responsibility for segregation

• policy formed on equality of opportunity
• Shifted from opportunity to affirmative action
• beginning of reverse discirmination
• questions when is it good?

• followed model of civil rights movement
• The ERA gave elite support of womens rights
• Women and Economy - "The glass ceiling"

• Elite intervention - "Roe v Wade"
• Mass response:
• end public funding
• aimed at limiting rights to abortion

• Rational civil rights policy is initiated by some elite
• Mass resistance can only serve to limit the lengths to which the elite can go

-Crime fighting strategy is deterrence: to make cost of committing crime greater than benefits

- Strategy focuses on:

1. certainty- crime= costly punishment

2. swiftness- justice must be swift

3. severity- it has to be harsh

- He blames crime rate on:

1. Social Heterogeneity

2. Socialization and Control

3. Irrational Crime

4.Innate Aggression

5. Deterrence vs. Liberty

- Dye makes the point that crime ends up paying off in the criminals eyes.

- Public now expects federal involvement in law enforcement we see this through:

1. Law Enforcement Act of 1994
2. Federal Gun Control Act of 1968
3. Brady Law

 

 

- Development of policies in Criminal Justice is complicated by conflicting values.

Due Process vs. fight crime

- Death Penalty:

- no deterring effect

- falls short because of racial bias and infrequency of use

- as crime gets worse, may become necessary
 
 

Marianna

Dye 4 Criminal Justice

-Crime fighting strategy is deterrence: to make cost of committing crime

greater then benefits committing the crime.

-Deterrence Strategy focuses on:

1. certainty- crime= costly punishment

2. swiftness- justice must be swift

3. severity- it has to be harsh
- Author argues that crime is down and that it can be attributed to, crackdowns, community policing and longer prison sentences.

- Makes point that juvenile crime is on the rise and attributes it to their lax punishment. He feels as though in the juvenile sector that there is an absence of deterrence and this adds to criminal behavior.

- Book argues that American system of justice is not a deterrent because it lacks swiftness, certainty and severity.

-He blames crime rate on:
1. Social Heterogeneity
2. Socialization and Control
3. Irrational Crime
4.Innate Aggression
5. Deterrence vs. Liberty

- Dye makes the point that crime ends up paying off in the criminals eyes.

- Public now expects federal involvement in law enforcement we see this through:
Law Enforcement Act of 1994
Federal Gun Control Act of 1968
Brady Law

- Books says that development of policies in Criminal Justice is complicated by conflicting values. On one hand we are committed to due process, yet we are also determined to fight crime.(one is a fast process, the other slow)

- He ends by looking at the Death Penalty. He believes it has no deterring effect and that it falls short because of racial bias and infrequency of use. Although he still makes the argument that as crime
gets worse more people want to use it.

Chapter 5: Health and Welfare
(Jared)

- Poor are not principal beneficiaries of social welfare. Only 1/6 goes to low incomes.

- Entitlements: gov’t benefits for which Congress has a set criteria-anyone meeting them may receive benefits

- Largest amounts of entitlement spending goes to Social Security, Medicare, and Vet. & Fed. retirement

- Rational approach to social welfare is difficult due to nature and extent of poverty

- SSA of 1935 helps establish a basic framework

- Depression produces realization that poverty is not always individuals fault, from this, comes various types of insurances:

1. Social Security- most expensive program in federal budget
2. Medicare- health services for the elderly
3. Medicaid- health services for the poor (largest welfare to the poor)
4. Food Stamps
5. Temporary assistance for Needy families

• Individual Responsibility vs. Social Compassion

- Health care reform focuses on 2 major problems:

• Controlling costs
• Expending costs

I. Goals of Education

A) Resolve racial conflicts and build an integrated society
B) Inspire patriotism and good citizenship
C) Provide Values
D) Various forms of recreation and entertainment
E) Reduce conflict
F) Basically everything except educate

II. Battling Over the Basics

A. Citizen groups that have an interest in education

1. Parents
2. Taxpayers
3. Employers

B. Public Strongly Support:

1. The 3 "‘r’s"
a. Reading
b. Writing
c. Arithmetic

2. Enforcing minimum standards with testing
3. Testing teachers for mastery of basic skills

C. SAT scores

1. SAT scores where declining due to more students taking the test
2. College Board recentered scores in 1996 to boost scores
3. Now more than 500 students a year make a perfect 1600

D. Global Comparison

E. Nation at Risk
1. 1983 report by National Commission on Excellence in Education (A Nation at Risk) recommended a back to the basics reform

F. Testing

1. Minimum Competence Testing (MCT)

A. Citizens vs. Professionals

1. Citizens are often pitted against professional educators about education policy

C. Teacher Unions
1. NEA: National Education Association - largest
2. AFT: American Federation of Teachers - small, affiliated with AFL-CIO

D. Voters and Taxpayers
1. Voters that turn out for elections or school referendum votes
2. The larger the voter turnout the less likely a school bill will be passed

E. School Boards
1. Selected largely from concerned parents and civic leaders

F. Racial and Religious groups
1. Groups like NAACP, National Catholic Education Conference, American Jewish Congress, etc
2. Have fought battles over segregation, racial issues, prayer and Bible reading
3. Community- based religious groups fight for return of traditional moral values

IV. Federal Government Role in Education
A. Traditionally education has been the responsibility of local community, later it became the responsibility of the state, federal gov’t is just a spectator
B. State and local taxpayers have always borne 90% of public education costs
C. Early Federal Aid
1. Started off as land grants and later went to free lunches then to financial aid

D. ESEA
1. Elementary and Secondary Education Act 1965
2. Single largest fed’l aid to education programs
3. Poverty-impacted schools were principal benefactors

E. Educational Block Grants
1. Reagan administration consolidated all education funds into the Education Consolidation and Improvement Act in 1981 into single block grants for states and communities
2. Purpose was to give state and local districts greater discretion over the use of fed’l educational aid

F. Head Start
1. Most popular federal educational aid program came from LBJ’s war on poverty
2. Provide special preschool preparation to disadvantaged children before entering k or 1^st grade
3. No conclusive evidence it is effective but politically popular

G. Federal Aid and Educational Quality
1. Educational achievement is dependent on how money is spent, not how much

V. Educational Reform and Parental Choice

A. Goals 2000
1. Clinton’s policy designed to enhance nat’l educational goals developed by Bush and state governors
a. Every Child must start school ready to learn
b. High school graduation rate will be increased to at least 90%
c. US students become 1^st in world in math and science
d. Every adult American will become literate
e. Every school in the US will be free of drugs and violence and will offer a disciplined environment cohesive to learning

2. Not clear how they were to be achieved
3. Act specifically denies gov’t control of curriculum, instruction, and allocation of state and local education

B. Clinton Initiatives
1. Supported Nat’s testing and proposed additional federal funds for school construction, tax credits and deductions for college tuition
2. Issue of who will set Nat’l standards and how to measure achievement

C. What works?
1. Research shows children do better when schools are seen as an extension of their families

D. Parental Choice
1. Parental choice is suppose to encourage competition whis in turn encourages academic advancement
2. Allow parents to make educators give students what they want or they risk a large loss in enrollment

E. Charter schools
1. Community educational groups sign a charter with their school district or state authority tp establish their own school
2. Have to show specific student achievement
3. Results unknown b/c have few established schools

F. Magnet Schools
1. Specialized schools in academic areas, or adopted by businesses etc
2. Have reputation for quality and specialized instruction, recommended for inner city areas to attract white pupils

G. Privatized Public Schools
1. A private profit-making corporation makes a contract with the school districts
2. lower cost to school districts
3. Opposed by public school administrators, public school teachers, and unions

H. Educational Values
1. Vouchers that would be given to parents to spend at any school, public or prv
2. All public and private schools would compete equally for students and state education funds would flow to those schools that enrolled more students
3. Strong Opposition especially by professional school administrators and state and educational agencies
4. Sat it interrupts educational planning and threatens vitality of schools
5. Some fear public education will be undermined and divert money from public schools to private schools

VI. Battle over school financing
A. Inequality among districts
1. Money in schools depends on the amount of economic resources
2. Most money comes from land taxes so schools with little land has little money

B. Constitutional issue
1. Supreme court says it is not a violation of 14^th amendment
2. State courts are making legislators do something about it

VII. Public Policy and Higher Education
A. Public Universities
1. 3/4 of college students go to public colleges or universities

B. Federal Aid
1. State government carries the major burden of higher education
2. Fed government directly assists many college students through grants and loans

C. Student Assistance
1. Pell Grants
2. Stafford Loans
3. Perkins Loan
4. Work Study
5. Most financial aid is given to middle class students

D. Research money is given to large Universities for scientific research

VIII. Groups in higher education

C. Faculty

D. unions: AAUP-American Association of University Professors and AFT

E. Students - least influential of all groups

IX Reading Writing and Religion

A. Separation of church and state comes from first amendment
B. Does not prohibit adoption of programs that help all children
C. Prayer is unconstitutional in almost all ways

• Environmental Externalities
• externalities occur when one individual, firm, gov’t undertakes an activity that imposes unwanted costs on others
• the shifting of costs onto others
• Costs of Regulation
• environmental policies are costly, but all gov’t combined pays 1/4
• other 3/4 of 100 billion/year is paid by business and consumers
• Benefits in Relation to Costs
• costs of policies should not outweigh benefits to society
• Risk Assessment
• environmental policy is a respondent to popularly perceived risks
• some level of risk will always be present in environmental policy
• Bureaucratic Incentives
• they will face intense criticism if they do not impose health regulations
• Command and Control
• traditional approach of environ. policy where controls are designated by administrative or legislative rules
• Market Incentives
• more effective to establish private economic incentives to curb pollution than uniform regulations

• Solid Waste Disposal
• landfills, incineration, recycling
• Hazardous Waste
• Water Pollution
• sludge, organic wastes, and chemical effluents
• Air Pollution
• motor vehicles, electrical power plants, and heating are all main sources

• Interest Group Economics
• recruit members and money to dramatize environmental threats
• Shaping Public Opinion
• Difficult to give really effective media coverage due to difficulty of subject, however, activity and media coverage caused shift in pub. opinion
• Interest Group Politics
• show selves as clean, opposition as dirty
• must prove cost to fix is lower than results if not fixed
• Radical Environmentalism
• opposition to economic development, scientific advancement, and even humanity

• EPA; NEPA; Clean Air acts of 1970,1990; Water pollution control act of 1972, Endangered Species Act of 1973, etc.
• EPA is the most powerful and far-reaching bureaucracy in govt today

• Property rights and takings
• Regulatory problems
• Pollution taxes and Emission Allowances
• Waste charges

-economic policy is exercised through

fiscal policies: decisions about taxation, spending and deficit levels

monetary policies: money supply and interest rates

-decided by federal spending levels

-fiscal and monetary policies have small changes at existing levels

-goals of economic policy

growth in economic output and standards of living, full and productive

employment of the nations work force and stable prices with low inflation

-this type of policy making is an example of incrementalism because it uses last years spending to decide present years budgeting

-Theories used in this type of policy making:

macroeconomics: tries to explain economic cycles and to prescribe

governmental policies to counter inflation and recession

classical: view market economy as self adjusting mechanism

Keynesian: economic stability product of fluctuations in demands, written into employment act of 1946-promotes "maximum employment production and purchasing power"

- Reagan used Supply side economics - long term growth is more important than short term demand- free market is better equip than government to bring lower prices and supply and demand

- Clinton used Enterprise Economics- government is responsible to stimulate growth- and invest in

• 1) human capital
• 2) technology
• 3) infrastructure

- Monetarist Economics- stability can be achieved only by holding rate of money and economic growth at the same pace

-govn’t spending has grown because of "Uncontrollable benefits" ex:

• entitlement programs
• index of benefits
• cost of in-kind benefits( non-cash)
• interest on debt
• back door spending

- Social Security is the largest item in the budget while Medicare and

Medicaid are the fastest growing

-Burden of Debt ( p. 229) goven’t spends more than it recieves in revenues and this drives up the debt..things that cause this:

• burdening future
• slowing economic growth
• limiting policy initiatives
• default& Hyperinflation
• dealing with deficits
• Tax increase & Deficits
• Deficits and entitlements
• Politics of deficits

- Formal Budgetary Process & Spending Agencies p.234

OMB in the executive office- has key responsibility for budget preparation (president has no formal powers over taxing and spending

house and Senate budget committees- they established the CBO to review presidential budget after submission to congress

Appropriations Act- provides money for spending, nothing can be spent w/o it

Appropriations Committees- used for specific appropriations in both houses

(more in the house than the senate)

Revenue Act-House committee on ways and means and the senate finance

committee work mostly with taxation

Presidential Veto

Continuing Resolutions and "Shutdowns"- any govn’t agency that does not pass an appropriations act may not take money from the treasury and is obligated to shut down continuing resolutions allows a way around this

Introduction

-there is no better illustration of the influence of interest groups in policymaking than nat’al tax policy

-tax laws treat different types of income differently

-unfairness, complexity, & inefficiency of tax laws can be attributed to interest groups

-Tax Reform Act 1986, IGs suffer defeat

Federal Tax System

-total revenues from taxes and fees consistently fail to match total spending by the gov

Individual Income Taxes

Excise and Custom Duties

- progressive tax--high income pay higher percentage of incomes in taxes

- proportionality/flat tax--all income groups pay same rate

- universality--all types of income subject to same rates

Economic Growth

1. Reagan tax cuts take effect and nation began econ recovery

• slowed rate of growth of nat’al revenue

- Tax Reform Act of 1986--reduction in tax rates in place of tax breaks

-many opponents--industry, real estate, multinational corps, oil & gas, labor unions...

Compromising with Special Interest

-key to overcoming opposition of special interests was to offer a tax rate low enough that most people would be willing to give up deductions and preferences

-bipartisan effort against special interests

Clinton,Deficits, and Taxes

- Clinton win on promise to revive econ

- Clinton propose raising taxes on affluent, elderly, corps, &energy

- Clinton and Reps agree to middle class tax cut in 1997

Tax Reform and the Flat Tax

1. There is no better illustration of the influence of interest groups in policymaking than in national tax policy
1. Tax laws treat different types of income differently
2. Unfairness, complexity, and inefficiency of tax laws can be attributed to interest groups
3. Tax Reform Act of 1986, interest groups suffer defeat
2. Federal Tax System
1. Total revenues from taxes and fees consistently fail to match total spending by the government
2. Individual income taxes are the largest single source of government revenue
3. Today, people pay more in Social Security taxes than in income taxes
3. Taxation, Fairness, and Growth
1. Progressive tax–higher incomes pay higher percentage of income taxes
2. Flat tax–all income groups pay same tax rate
3. Universality–all types of income subject to same rates
4. Economic growth
1. High taxes discourage growth
2. If taxes are reduced, might increase government revenues (supply side economics)
3. Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981–tax cuts take effect and economic recovery begins; tradeoff is that growth rate of national revenue slowed
4. Tax Reform and the Special Interests
1. Tax Reform Act of 1986–reduction in tax rates in exchange for simplified tax system
2. Many opponents–industry, real estate, multinational corporations, oil & gas, labor unions, etc.
5. Compromising with Special Interests
1. Key to overcoming oppositio of special interests was to offer a tax rate low enough that most people would be willing to give up deductions and preferences
2. Bipartisan effort against special interests
6. Clinton, Deficits, and Taxes
1. Clinton won on promise to revive economy
2. Clinton proposes raising taxes on affluent, elderly, corporations, and energy
3. Clinton and Republicans agree to middle class tax cut in 1997
7. Tax Reform and the Flat Tax
1. Eliminate exemptions, exclusions, deductions, and special treatment with a standardized rate on all forms of income
2. National sales tax–replace federal income tax and get rid of IRS; penalize consumption not production
3. IRS–"Simplifying tax laws would not only reduce cost of paying taxes but reassure taxpayer that the system is fair...It would reduce the power of the IRS...taxpayers’ bill of rights might strengthen safeguards against arbitrary actions of the IRS."

- 1/4 of the world’s total output is sold in a country other that where is it was made
- US exports 11%--aircraft, computers,-- and imports 12%--automobiles
- Comparative Advantage--what each nation produces best & shift toward making that
- US corps want lower trade barriers around the world--lower US tariffs
- GATT--General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade--regulate international trade
- WTO--World Trade Organization--adjudicate trade disputes among nations
- IMF--International Monetary Fund--facilitate trade by lending
- World Bank--long term loans
- NAFTA--eventual removal of all tariffs between US, Can, and Mex
- Dumping--sale of foreign goods in US markets at prices lower than charged in home--Japanese automobiles
- foreign trade lower US wages
- US corps want immigration for cheap labor
- Immigration Act of 1921--max # immigrants accepted each year
- Immigration and Reform Act of 1986/ Simpson-Mazzoli Act---regulate employers hiring immigrants
- aliens have no Constitutional right to come to US, but once here that have right to due process and equal protection
- US Supreme Court mandate that state and local gov’t can’t exclude immigrants from benefits
- Proposition 187

I. How Policies Are Made:

A. creating an issue, dramatizing it, calling attention to it, and pressuring government to
do something about it are important political tactics, they are tactics of agenda setting.

B. "nondecision making: occurs when influential individuals or groups or the political
system itself operates in society.

A. policy formulation is the development of policy alternatives dealing with problems on
the public agenda.

B. The White House: President and the executive branch are expected to be policy
initiators and Congress the arbitrators

C. Interest groups: formulate their own policy or do so in association with Congress
members

D. Legislative Staffs: reflect the general view of their bosses, they research issues,
schedule legislative hearings, line up expert to testify and write and rewrite bills

E. Think Tanks: policy planning orgs are central in coordinating points in policymaking;
they bring together corporate and financial institutions, mass media, government officials, and intellectuals to reach a consensus on what action should take place.

A. makes relatively little difference in the major direction of public policy whether Dem

or Rep dominate the political scene

-Policy evaluation is learning about the consequences of public policy

-Policy evaluation research is the objective, systematic, empirical examination of the effects of

policy goals.

Impact of policy is measured through:

- some believe that experimenting with policy idea is best to do before implementing, but this

beings about some serious questions: