Deck 1: Public Policy and Politics

Question 1

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) what government officials and citizens choose to do or not to do about public problems
D) activities of think tanks, interest groups, and government agents to address public problems

Answer 1

C

Question 2

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

Answer 2

D

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

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 6

The examination of components of policy, the policy process, or both, is referred to as ______.

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

Question 7

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 8

Which statement describes the primary reason that US 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 9

______ 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

Question 10

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 11

Which of the following is an example of a policy outcome?

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

Question 12

A ______ refers to the effects that policies have on society.

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

Question 13

Which of the following terms refers to the relationship between the national government and the state and local governments?

A) collective action
B) bicameralism
C) political culture
D) federalism

Question 14

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
B) political
C) governing
D) social

Question 15

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 16

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 ______ context influencing policy.

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

Question 17

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 18

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 19

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
B) cultural
C) defense
D) governing

Question 20

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

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

Question 21

What are the authorized means for pursuing goals?

Question 22

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 23

Which of the following are considered public goods?

A) houses
B) food and clothing
C) maintenance of highways
D) personal computers

Question 24

Cable television services are an example of a ______.

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

Question 25

A(n) ______ occurs when the public has incomplete information in order to enter into a transaction or exchange.

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

Question 26

What is federalism?

Question 27

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

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

Question 28

About ______% of states allow citizen-generated initiatives.

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

Question 29

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 30

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 31

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 32

What is a representative democracy?

Question 33

Define political culture.

Question 34

Identify the regulatory agency responsible for ensuring public safety for a wide range of consumer products.

Question 35

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 36

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 37

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 38

Negative externality and information failure are both examples of what?

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

Question 39

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 40

______ refers to what a policy or policy proposal costs in relation to its expected benefits to society.

A) Equity
B) Feasibility
C) Efficiency
D) Effectiveness

Question 41

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 42

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 43

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 44

Which policy criterion evaluates whether elected officials are likely to find a proposed policy acceptable or not?

Question 45

What is an information failure?

Question 46

Which policy criterion refers to the assessment of how well a policy works relative to the cost of adopting that policy?

Question 47

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 48

Provide an example of a pure public good.

Question 49

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

Question 50

What are the roles of interest groups?

Question 51

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

Question 52

Explain positive externalities.

Question 53

Provide an example of a pure private good.

Question 54

What are common pool resources?

Question 55

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 56

Which policy criterion would be used in an effort to evaluate how successful a policy is at meeting its goals?

Question 57

When do monopolies or oligopolies exist?

Question 58

Why does the government provide and/or protect public goods?

Question 59

Define public policy.

Question 60

When does a market failure occur?

Question 61

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 62

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.