Deck 15: Is There a Logic to American Policy

Question 1

If greenhouse gas emissions are a global concern, why doesn't each nation simply reduce its emissions?

A) There is no popular support for such reductions in any country.
B) There is no way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions without imposing significant costs on citizens.
C) The uncertainty that other nations will follow suit.
D) Democratic states are willing to make changes, but there are fears that dictators could demand unreasonable concessions to follow suit.

Answer 1

C

Question 2

Which of the following statements regarding the use of logic in politics is true?

A) It clarifies the incentives to build parties with strong brand names.
B) It lets us understand why some people vote while others abstain.
C) It explains why we elect politicians rather than relying on a monarch or governing ourselves through direct democracy.
D) all of these are correct

Answer 2

D

Question 3

Why do Medicare and Social Security have such a broad base of support?

A) There is consensus in the United States that the elderly should be able to retire with dignity.
B) Since we all pay income taxes, we have a stake in maintaining these programs.
C) Everyone who has paid into the system receives benefits no matter how rich or poor he or she is.
D) Celebrities highlight the benefits of the system.

Answer 3

C

Question 4

President Trump withdrew from the Paris accord on the argument that it will ______.

A) undermine the economy of the United States
B) allow other countries to free ride on the efforts of the United State
C) the American people are not satisfied nor interested with what it represents
D) it is bad for business

Question 5

Federal programs, such as Social Security and Medicare, provide Americans with benefits once they reach a certain age are called ______.

A) entitlements
B) discretionary programs
C) sequestration
D) pensions

Question 6

Free riding in the health care system occurs by ______.

A) taking advantage of many of the benefits of the health care safety net that everyone else's insurance premiums provide, without paying the costs themselves
B) consuming massive amounts of health care for relatively minor injuries such as scrapes and bruises and leaving less access for those with serious health issues
C) buying low-cost insurance to avoid upfront costs and then upgrading an insurance plan when a serious health crisis emerges
D) the states expanding their Medicaid programs to cover more citizens knowing that the federal government is paying the cost of the program

Question 7

Which of the following terms was often used to describe the teetering finances fo federal, state, and local governments?

A) fiscal precipice
B) fiscal cliff
C) glass ceiling
D) debt ceiling

Question 8

How do the guarantees of Social Security and Medicare create a policy challenge?

A) Decision makers have to keep programs solvent as well as dealing with political barriers to making any cuts that would maintain their solvency.
B) Decision makers have to figure out to balance the requirements of funding these programs in the context of spending on other national needs.
C) Decision makers must determine how to adjust the benefits and the taxes that fund these programs to more effectively redistribute income.
D) Shifting control of these programs to independent agencies makes oversight a very challenging task.

Question 9

The Kyoto Protocol faced serious opposition in the U.S. Senate because ______.

A) it punished countries that relied on coal more heavily than those that used natural gas
B) developing nations did not face any short-term limits, while rich nations bore all of the short-term reductions
C) the mandate that all power needed to come from renewable sources would have severely affected the economy of the United States
D) developing countries could plant trees and consider converting to renewable energy while continuing to emit greenhouse gasses

Question 10

Why does dealing with the policy challenges of Medicare and Social Security create a prisoner's dilemma?

A) The benefits awarded by these programs are not regulated in any way, so seniors consume a large share of the federal economy.
B) The transaction costs of reaching a deal are high because there are so many actors who will want to be involved.
C) Finding a focal point to start the discussions is a very real challenge and with neither side knowing where to start the conversation.
D) Each side knows that they could benefit from reaching a landmark entitlement reform deal if they could just trust the other side to cooperate.

Question 11

The fights over the fiscal cliff and the debt ceiling illustrated that ______.

A) command authority was the only solution to the problem
B) deadlines can motivate both sides to reach a compromise
C) separation of powers creates real problems for government spending
D) having supermajority requirements increases transaction costs

Question 12

The long-term challenge for proponents of universal coverage will be ______.

A) to keep Americans enrolled
B) to be able to navigate the political opposition in regards to universal coverage
C) to be able to effectively negotiate with insurance companies
D) to be able to provide enough options for individuals at all risk levels

Question 13

What are the consequences of having a political system with power dispersed across different institutions?

A) It makes it impossible to get anything done.
B) No one can dictate a solution on his or her own.
C) It leads to constant chaos because of uncertainty.
D) The lack of decision maker returns the focus to unilateral action.

Question 14

How does free riding affect the cost of health insurance?

A) It has a dramatic effect on those who choose not to buy coverage because they will have to pay hefty bills if they need treatment.
B) It decreases the availability of health care for all because fewer people choose to enter the health care profession.
C) Premiums rise for those with health care because insurance companies need to pay more for an increasingly expensive risk pool.
D) Indirectly at best because insurance companies could keep the cost of premiums down if they deployed technology more effectively.

Question 15

The individual mandate in the Affordable Care Act that is designed to prevent free riding draws on what element of the Framers' toolkit?

A) agenda setting
B) command approach
C) majority rule
D) prisoner's dilemma

Question 16

What does the process of collective action tell us about why consensus is hard to come by?

A) Individuals want outcomes at their ideal points and refuse to engage in bargaining and compromise.
B) Since power is dispersed across different institutions, there is a lack of coordination.
C) Any legislation will have policy winners and losers when societal goals are at odds with individually rational actions.
D) The system of separation of powers was not designed to handle the levels of polarization that exist in the current political system.

Question 17

Healthy patients who forgo health insurance, knowing that the health care and emergency systems that are set up to cover those who do buy insurance will be there for them if something catastrophic occurs are known as ______.

A) Young Turks
B) Young Guns
C) Generation X
D) Young Invincibles

Question 18

President Trump's "tax reform" heavily benefited ______.

A) the lower class
B) minority tax payers
C) corporations
D) small businesses

Question 19

The only way to solve the tragedy of the commons is ______.

A) embracing technological changes
B) making incremental changes to policy
C) subsidizing those who will be made worse off
D) a comprehensive approach

Question 20

Greenhouse gas emissions represent a classic example of ______.

A) transaction costs
B) free riding
C) agenda setting
D) tragedy of the commons

Question 21

The 2017 tax bill was, from Mancur Olson's perspective, the perfect bill to make many friends and few enemies.

Question 22

The young invincibles are considered to be the healthiest and most insured group within the health care system.

Question 23

What do the struggles over tax reform illustrate about American politics?

Question 24

Why are entitlements such a difficult issue for policymakers to solve?

Question 25

How did policy makers propose to reduce free riding and what does it tell us about decision to solve the problem?

Question 26

A key reason as to why the tax bill passed in 2017 was that it followed Mancur Olson's logic of ______.

A) collective action
B) fiscal responsibility
C) global commons
D) entitlement reform

Question 27

Why are greenhouse gasses a classic example of tragedy of the commons?

Question 28

Entitlements are the federal programs that Americans are entitled to benefit from once they reach a certain age or condition.

Question 29

Most nations have found it in their individual interests to continue to deplete the common resource of the environment, burning the least expensive fuels rather than shifting to cleaner technologies in a comprehensive fashion.

Question 30

No one reaches agreement until they are staring just over the fisca cliff.

Question 31

Not everyone who has paid into this system receives these benefits.

Question 32

How do Washington policy makers try to solve the prisoner's dilemma of fixing entitlements?

Question 33

Trust funds for Medicare and Social Security are due to dry up as the baby boomer population begins to retire.

Question 34

What is the fiscal cliff and how did it affect the United States?

Question 35

Climate change represents an epic tragedy of the global commons.

Question 36

What do the experiences of the "Young Invincibles" tell us about free riding in the American health care system?

Question 37

Discuss the claim that the Trump Administration's stance on the Paris accord is tantamount to free riding.

Question 38

The long-term challenge for the proponents of universal coverage will be to keep Americans enrolled.

Question 39

How can logic tell us how to understand who loses in American politics and why they fight for the status quo?

Question 40

Minority tax payers were considered the winners in the Trump's tax reform policy.

Question 41

What lessons can we draw about policy making in the United States?