Deck 1: Public Policy and Politics

Question 1

______ has been defined as "who gets what, when, and how" or the exercise of power in making decisions of public policy.

A) Equity
B) Feasibility
C) Government
D) Politics

Answer 1

D

Question 2

During and after the Great Recession, various governmental entities proposed policies to create jobs, increase the minimum wage, and regulate financial markets. This flurry of policy making was likely a result of which context, affecting the policy-making process?

A) economic context
B) cultural context
C) defense context
D) governing context

Answer 2

A

Question 3

______ refers to the institutions and political processes through which public policy choices are made.

A) Government
B) Federalism
C) Policy analysis
D) Politics

Answer 3

A

Question 4

Which of the following terms refer to deliberate critical thinking about the causes of public problems and which policy choices make the most sense to address them?

A) policy outcomes
B) policy analysis
C) information context
D) deliberative government evaluation

Question 5

Government officials propose public policies in response to ______ or conditions that the public widely perceives to be unacceptable.

A) policy outcomes
B) market failures
C) political crises
D) public problems

Question 6

The ideology of individual members of Congress is an example of the ______ context that affects the development of public policy.

A) governing
B) social
C) cultural
D) political

Question 7

Public policy is best defined as

A) promotion of the common good through regulatory instruments.
B) deconstructing a policy issue in order to study aspects of the issue.
C) government action taken in response to a public problem.
D) activities of think tanks, interest groups, and government agents to address public problems.

Question 8

All of the following are examples of policy outputs except?

A) EPA clean air regulations
B) poverty rates
C) requirements that public schools conduct achievement testing
D) gun control legislation

Question 9

A ______ refers to the results that occur when a policy is implemented.

A) policy output
B) policy outcome
C) policy yield
D) collective action

Question 10

Which level of government is involved in developing public policies?

A) federal government
B) state government
C) municipal or city government
D) all of these

Question 11

A systematic and organized way to evaluate problems, policy alternatives, or the effectiveness of government programs is referred to as ______.

A) policy formulation
B) policy legitimation
C) policy analysis
D) policy capacity

Question 12

The governing context affects how policy decisions are made. This context refers to ______.

A) the federal system and separation of powers.
B) values, beliefs, and attitudes.
C) conflicts, elections, and political parties.
D) inflation and unemployment.

Question 13

A recession is likely to affect the policies that Congress and the president adopt, to stimulate jobs. This is an example of which context affecting the development of public policy?

A) economic context
B) political context
C) governing context
D) social context

Question 14

The United States saw an increase in environmental legislation in the 1970s due in part to pressure from environmental groups. This represents what type of rationale for government intervention?

A) economic reasons
B) moral or ethical reasons
C) market failures
D) political reasons

Question 15

______ are economic justifications for why government becomes involved in societal problems.

A) Policy impacts
B) Policy subsystems
C) Market failures
D) Agenda settings

Question 16

Which statement describes the primary reason that U.S. policy making is characterized by conflict over which policies to adopt?

A) government officials, interest groups, and citizens promote their views about what to do
B) the political parties have become highly polarized
C) government regulations have become increasingly complex, and government has grown
D) the media increasingly exposes the decline in ethics among public officials

Question 17

The aging of the Baby Boom generation has led to growing interest in reform of government programs such as Medicare and Social Security. Similarly, immigration policy is in the spotlight because of the influx of immigrants to the United States. These are examples of the ______ influencing policy.

A) moral context
B) social context
C) political context
D) governing context

Question 18

The popularity or relative power of a political party, pressure exerted by interest groups, and the influence of third parties (such as the Tea Party) are examples of the ______, affecting how decisions are made by government.

A) political context
B) social context
C) governing context
D) economic context

Question 19

Which statement describes government policy with regard to regulation of amusement park rides in the United States?

A) complicated and varied across the nation, with different levels and agencies of government involved
B) regulated stringently by the federal government
C) completely unregulated
D) regulated by state governments

Question 20

The main reason that government gets involved in addressing a public problem is to ______.

A) ensure continuity of externalities
B) conduct policy analysis
C) improve policy capacity of states
D) ensure that the general "public good" is maintained and protected

Question 21

About ______ % of states allow citizen-generated initiatives.

A) 20
B) 30
C) 40
D) 50

Question 22

The "tragedy of the commons" refers to the situation in which individuals attempt to maximize their use of ______ without regard to their degradation or depletion.

A) pure private goods
B) toll goods
C) common pool resources
D) pure public goods

Question 23

Which of the following are considered public goods?

A) public education
B) police protection
C) maintenance of highways
D) all of these

Question 24

The American system of governance adheres to the principle of ______.

Question 25

Which of the following is the only type of good for which there is no market failure, and the government need not intervene to prevent it?

A) pure private good
B) pure public good
C) common pool resource
D) toll goods

Question 26

Negative externality and information failure are both examples of what?

A) politics
B) market failure
C) political culture
D) toll goods

Question 27

The Partnership for Sustainable Communities, an interagency partnership, was created in _____.

A) 2007
B) 2009
C) 2011
D) 2013

Question 28

______ argue for less government intrusion into the economy and decision making within business and industry.

A) Liberals
B) Conservatives
C) Moderates
D) Independents

Question 29

The ______is a regulatory agency responsible for ensuring public safety for a wide range of consumer products.

Question 30

Which of the following criteria for analyzing public policies examines how government officials appraise the acceptability of a particular alternative or solution?

A) effectiveness
B) efficiency
C) political feasibility
D) equity

Question 31

When the Environmental Protection Agency adopts regulations that force power plants to take into consideration the actual costs to deal with pollution and the health problems it causes, what type of market failure is the EPA addressing?

A) negative externality
B) natural monopoly
C) positive externality
D) barriers to exit and entry

Question 32

Education is often cited as something that benefits more than just the person getting the education; it benefits society in a number of other ways. This is called ______.

A) redistributive policy
B) positive externality
C) buoyancy of community funding
D) market-based incentives

Question 33

A(n) ______ occurs when the public has incomplete information in order to make a decision or the decision is too complex and difficult for the average citizen to know how best to proceed.

A) monopoly
B) information failure
C) economic context
D) joint consumption

Question 34

Cable television services are an example of a ______.

A) pure private good
B) toll good
C) common pool resource
D) pure public good

Question 35

______ are the authorized means for pursuing goals.

Question 36

A ______ is a law proposed by a state or locality for voters to approve or reject.

A) referendum
B) initiative
C) recall
D) none of these

Question 37

Federal subsidies that are only given to dairy farmers who own more than one hundred cows may raise concerns about the ______ of the policy.

A) effectiveness
B) efficiency
C) equity
D) feasibility

Question 38

Which of the following are examples of pure public goods?

A) cable television services, electrical utilities
B) automobiles, houses, DVDs
C) air, water, wildlife
D) national defense, air, public parks

Question 39

The Tea Party movement and other factors have led to increased polarization between political parties at the state and national levels. This polarized situation affects the ability of legislatures to enact policies. This situation describes a strong impact of the ______ context on policy making.

A) economic
B) social
C) political
D) demographic

Question 40

A good that can be ______ is one for which one individual's consumption of the good does not interfere with another individual's consumption of the same good.

A) jointly consumed
B) excluded
C) externalized
D) collective

Question 41

______ are organized groups of people following the logic of collective action.

Question 42

The policy criterion of ______ refers to the assessment of how well a policy works relative to the cost of adopting that policy.

Question 43

An ______ is a form of market failure in which consumers' lack complete understanding or knowledge of their options in a given transaction.

Question 44

______ is a policy analysis criterion that evaluates whether elected officials are likely to find a proposed policy acceptable or not.

Question 45

National defense and public parks are examples of ______, which the private sector has no incentive to provide, are jointly consumed, and cannot exclude some people from benefiting.

Question 46

Critical thinking about public problems and governmental actions to address them is the activity of ______.

Question 47

A ______ exists when one or several persons or companies dominate the market and can control the price of a product or service.

Question 48

The United States is a ______ democracy.

Question 49

Choose three of the contexts that surround policy making and explain how each context can affect the decisions that are made or can influence the policy emphases that emerge. As part of your explanation of a context, give an example of how a certain context had an impact on a policy that was enacted.

Question 50

______ are goods that cannot be jointly consumed and for which exclusion is not feasible.

Question 51

A ______ describes a situation in which a third party gains something from a market transaction but does not pay for it.

Question 52

How can the social context affect the development of public policy? Provide an example as part of your answer.

Question 53

What are the three major reasons for government intervention into a particular problem? Select a substantive issue/problem (e.g., social Security, environmental policy, addressing the recession, etc.) and discuss why the government may intervene for each of the reasons identified. Discuss political, moral/ethical, and market failure reasons for government intervention and what these are. Select any issues (e.g., environmental) and discuss how one might interpret government intervention from each of these reasons.

Question 54

What is a public good, and why does the government provide and/or protect public goods?

Question 55

One would use the ______ criterion in an effort to evaluate how successful a policy is at meeting its goals.

Question 56

One type of market failure occurs when markets cannot provide for the public good. Explain the two criteria that determine whether a good is private or public.

Question 57

______ refers to widely held values, beliefs, and attitudes, such as trust and confidence in government and the political process, or the lack thereof.

Question 58

A course of government action taken in an attempt to address a public problem is known as a ______.

Question 59

A market failure is an example of a(n) ______ justification for the government to enact policies.

Question 60

Discuss two reasons why it is beneficial for citizens to study public policy.

Question 61

Ensuring the safety of amusement park rides illustrates the purpose and nature of public policy. Discuss the purpose of policy making, reasons that government gets involved in the solution of public problems, and the factors that make policy making so complex.

Question 62

How are criteria used to evaluate public policy? Discuss the criteria that policy analysts use to evaluate an existing or proposed policy and the focus of each criterion.

Question 63

Policy making does not occur in a vacuum. Explain and provide an example of each of the various contexts that surround policy making and how that context can influence the policies that are enacted.

Question 64

Examine the four kinds of market failures that lead to government involvement in public policy. For each type of market failure, discuss the following: (a) the nature of the failure, that is, what it looks like and how it occurs; (b) an illustrative example; and (c) the way in which government may address the failure.

Question 65

Describe the various ways that citizens can have an impact on the policy-making process.