CAS PO 141 Study Guide - Final Guide: Synecdoche, Externality, Incrementalism
2 Oct 2018
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PO141 FINAL STUDY GUIDE
Please discuss what you’ve learned in each of the following units of our study of public policy:
Concepts
1. Policy goals
I. Equality
A. Recipients: who is a member? How do we distribute?
1. Rank-based distribution vs group-based distribution
2. All will say equality is their goal
B. Different people get different value out of something
C. Boundaries of the item → ex: financial aid based on “need”
II. Efficiency
A. Monopolies exist
B. Full info often doesn’t exist
C. How do we measure the benefits and costs?
D. Negative externalities, such as pollution
III. Security
A. What counts as a need?
1. Needs are not objective
2. Relative, future-oriented, symbolic and physical meanings
B. Who should bear the burden of meeting others’ needs?
IV. Liberty
A. liberty/harm tradeoff
1. What counts as a harm?
B. “Freedom from” vs “freedom to”
V. Conclusion
A. All sides will say that these are their goals.
2. Policy problems
I. Intro: overview -- Stone’s argument
A. We think of policy as being designed to solve problems
B. Policymaking is not rational
C. Strategic representation of a situation
II. Symbols
A. Narrative stories (story of decline, hero story, blame-the-victim story)
B. Synecdoche
1. Does the part really stand for the whole?
C. Metaphors
1. Ex: “business is getting strangled by regulation”
D. Ambiguity
1. Symbols can mean multiple things and thus appeal to wide variety
of people (Ex: “make America great again”)
III. Numbers
A. May sound like scientific truth, but are inevitably political
B. We only count what we consider important and measuring something
creates pressure to do something about it
C. People respond to being measured → “teach to the test”
D. Interpretation of the number is more important than the number itself
IV. Interests
A. It’s possible that people will not support policies in their interest
B. How we think policies will affect us can be different than how they actually
do
C. Multiple interests → which one to vote for?
3. Incrementalism
I. Lindblom criticizes the “root model” in which policymakers consider all
possibilities
II. He proposes the “branch model” where they consider a few policies and then
tinker with one over time
III. It would be impossible to consider all possible policies
IV. Hard to get new policies passed
4. Retrenchment
I. Hacker defines retrenchment as the increasing inability of the welfare state to
meet its goals
II. 3 causes
A. Drift: effects of policy change even when policies themselves don’t
change (ex: minimum wage)
B. Conversion: existing policies are used for new purposes
C. Layering: adding new policies instead of dismantling old ones
Content
1. What are “submerged” or “hidden” welfare policies?
a. Tax Expenditures
i. “Tax breaks” should be considered social spending
ii. Encourage “good behavior” like buying a house or going to school
b. Why is so much government action submerged?
i. Direct spending is unattractive to Republicans but tax expenditures sound
better
ii. Tax breaks can reward powerful groups
iii. Public wants more spending and lower taxes, and tax expenditures make
it look like that’s happening
iv. Procedurally easier to get through Congress
2. How big is the welfare state?
I. Intro: overview
A. Most people think that US welfare state is very small
B. Percentage of GDP directly spent on social welfare is small compared to
western European countries
C. However, this formula does not account for indirect spending
II. Health Care
A. Many people think gov should stay out of health care
B. But gov is already deeply involved in the system
C. Insurance through employer is actually subsidized by gov
III. Tax Expenditures/ “Tax breaks” should be considered social spending
Document Summary
Please discuss what you"ve learned in each of the following units of our study of public policy: How do we distribute: rank-based distribution vs group-based distribution, all will say equality is their goal, different people get different value out of something, boundaries of the item ex: financial aid based on (cid:3247)need(cid:3248) Efficiency: monopolies exist, full info often doesn"t exist, how do we measure the benefits and costs, negative externalities, such as pollution. Liberty: liberty/harm tradeoff, what counts as a harm, freedom from vs freedom to , conclusion, all sides will say that these are their goals, policy problems. Intro: overview -- stone"s argument: we think of policy as being designed to solve problems, policymaking is not rational, strategic representation of a situation. Interests: it"s possible that people will not support policies in their interest, how we think policies will affect us can be different than how they actually do, multiple interests which one to vote for, incrementalism.
