Deck 2: What Government Does And How It Does It

Question 1

Unlike federal spending, state spending patterns have ______.

A) fluctuated
B) increased
C) decreased
D) remained constant

Answer 1

D

Question 2

The federal government has primary responsibility for spending in all of the following areas EXCEPT ______.

A) veterans' services
B) defense
C) space
D) corrections

Answer 2

D

Question 3

How are special-purpose governments funded?

A) user fees and special tax authority
B) state personal income taxes
C) federal grants
C) nonprofit contributions
D) federal appropriations

Answer 3

A

Question 4

Which level of government plays the intermediary role in the system's finances by, among other things, managing programs at one level of government and distributing aid to yet another level of government?

A) local
B) federal
C) state
D) international

Question 5

Since the 1960s, the growth of government employees at the state and local level has ______.

A) grown rapidly
B) shrunk rapidly
C) stayed the same
D) not been measured

Question 6

When comparing federal, state, and local government, the job of government varies according to ______.

A) size
B) level
C) budget
D) growth

Question 7

In the last two presidential administrations, Bush and Obama, Americans' trust in their government has ______.

A) risen
B) declined
C) stayed the same
D) fluctuated

Question 8

The growth of transfer functions emphasizes that different kinds of governmental programs require different ______.

A) hiring practices
B) funds disbursement
C) defense strategies
D) administrative approaches

Question 9

Who argues that different levels of government concentrate on different services?

A) Kettl
B) pollsters
C) traditional scholars
D) analysts

Question 10

Which level of government concentrates the most on the direct delivery of services?

A) local
B) federal
C) state
D) international

Question 11

What can significantly expand government's power while expending relatively little money?

A) tax expenditures
B) contracting out of programs
C) regulations
D) loan programs

Question 12

State governments have primary responsibility for funding all of the following services EXCEPT ______.

A) protection of natural resources
B) welfare
C) higher education
D) public safety inspections

Question 13

There has been a change in government tools in that the ______.

A) use of indirect tools has increased
B) use of direct tools has increased
C) direct and indirect tools have both increased
D) direct and indirect tools have both decreased

Question 14

When people think of public administration, it is usually about what?

A) indirect administration
B) direct administration
C) administration through grants
D) government by proxy

Question 15

The federal tax deduction for mortgage interest and local property taxes is considered a ______.

A) grant
B) luxury tax
C) tax expenditure
D) revenue

Question 16

Which level of government spends the most on defense, space, and veterans' services?

A) state government
B) local government
C) federal government
D) county government

Question 17

The use of third-party agents to deliver programs that the government funds is ______.

A) government by proxy
B) local government
C) direct administration
D) tax expenditures

Question 18

Direct government includes the provision of goods and services, whereas indirect government emphasizes all of the following EXCEPT ______.

A) vouchers
B) contracting out of government programs
C) grants
D) interest on the national debt

Question 19

Local governments generally have primary responsibility for funding all of the following EXCEPT ______.

A) elementary education
B) highways
C) fire protection
D) police protection

Question 20

Recent federal government spending is ______.

A) spread across many categories
B) concentrated among a few categories
C) primarily spent on foreign aid and defense
D) focused on the direct delivery of services

Question 21

According to the text, hospital care is primarily a __________ responsibility.

A) federal
B) state
C) local
D) mixed

Question 22

Since the 1950s, the number of individual local governments has ______; most of these local governments are considered __________.

A) decreased; towns
B) increased; school districts
C) increased; counties
D) decreased; special districts

Question 23

Most of the federal government's financial activity takes place through direct tools.

Question 24

Government by proxy includes all of the following tools EXCEPT ______.

A) tax expenditures
B) contracts
C) loan programs
D) regulations

Question 25

The growth of transfer functions emphasizes that different kinds of governmental programs require what kind of administrative approaches?

A) rigorous
B) different
C) the same
D) overlapping

Question 26

Which level of government spends the most on elementary and secondary education, and health and welfare?

A) state government
B) federal government
C) local government
D) federal agencies

Question 27

Regulation is considered to be an example of what type of tool of government action?

A) direct
B) indirect
C) voucher
D) public provision

Question 28

Over the last two decades, government has grown fastest at the state and local levels.

Question 29

Most people believe defense is the largest category of spending.

Question 30

Which of the following is an example of a tax expenditure of the federal government?

A) mortgage interest tax deduction
B) loan programs
C) free programs
D) off-budget entries

Question 31

What do governments provide as financial assistance to other levels of government for specific projects and programs?

A) tax expenditures
B) contracts
C) regulations
D) grants

Question 32

In the last four decades, federal spending on ______ has increased but spending on _____ has decreased.

A) defense; interest on the national debt
B) defense; entitlements
C) entitlements; defense
D) entitlements; domestic programs

Question 33

Federal government loan programs are an example of what type of government program?

A) virtually free
B) non-existent
C) entitlement
D) decentralized

Question 34

The federal budget describes what the government does and how it does it.

Question 35

According to the author, as of 2008, there were ____ contractors for every U.S.soldier supporting the United States in the Afghanistan War.

A) 1.3
B) 3
C) 2.2
D) 0

Question 36

Since the 1950s, trust in government has ______.

A) increased drastically
B) sharply declined
C) stayed about the same
D) increased some

Question 37

Since 1901, the absolute number of federal employees has grown from ________ to _______ in 2014.

A) 231,000; 2.1 million
B) 150,000; 1.8 million
C) 231,000; 750,000
D) 450,000; 2.1 million

Question 38

________ use(s) private sector experts and outside organizations to do government work.

A) Regulation administration
B) Loan programs
C) Contract administration
D) Tax expenditures

Question 39

Entitlements are programs that benefit those individuals whom legislation has defined as eligible.

Question 40

Local governments tend to focus on__________; state governments tend to focus on _________; and the federal government tends to focus on __________.

A) human rights; tax collection; defense
B) public protection; national security; goods and services
C) informing the public; taxes; national security
D) goods and services; being the intermediary; national defense and the transfer function

Question 41

The text includes a discussion about Christopher C.Hood's comparison of public administration to a collection of tools.Briefly, what does Hood mean by this? What are the two distinct types of tools? Describe each and discuss a few specific examples of each in use.

Question 42

Provide detail about the trends in federal spending over the last four decades.

Question 43

Compared to other nations, how does American government spending compare?

Question 44

Governments at each level perform the same basic tasks.

Question 45

How are indirect tools of government different from direct tools of government?

Question 46

Briefly describe the purpose of special-purpose governments.

Question 47

Briefly describe the meaning of "administrative responsibility."

Question 48

Government by proxy and transfer programs are synonymous.

Question 49

Public administration rarely involves the inclusion of contracts to oversee the carrying out of activities that produce the results that contractors produce.This is because contractors are the experts and do not require oversight.

Question 50

How has government by proxy affected the U.S.government?

Question 51

Red tape is generally considered a positive characteristic of public administration because it helps to ensure efficient execution of public provisions.

Question 52

Discuss the how various levels of government generally have primary responsibility over specific public services, what this means, and provide examples of each.Do you think that primary responsibilities should be interchangeable? Why or why not?

Question 53

What are federal loan programs and how have they recently grown?

Question 54

According to the text, the absolute number of federal employees has grown substantially in the last 100 years.Based on this absolute figure alone, is it reasonable to assume that the size of government also has exploded? Why or why not? If there is a better approach to measuring this, please explain.

Question 55

How do states interact with other layers of government?

Question 56

Briefly describe how federal entitlement spending has grown since 1989.

Question 57

Total government employment has grown in proportion to the growth of the population.

Question 58

What are government contracts? Are government contracts on the rise or decline?

Question 59

Discuss the meaning of government by proxy and provide two examples.Then discuss examples of when you believe that this device is appropriate and when it is not.