Deck 6: Assessing Policy Alternatives

Question 1

______ refers to the policy analysis method that assesses the potential for harm that might result (to people or to the environment) if potential hazards should occur.

A) Forecasting
B) Cost-benefit analysis
C) Risk assessment
D) Program evaluation

Answer 1

C

Question 2

Nearly every policy proposal is concerned with the criterion of ______.

A) effectiveness
B) liberty
C) technical feasibility
D) equity

Answer 2

A

Question 3

Which decision-making tool analyzes the potential harm to people or other negative effects of a proposed policy solution?

A) cost-benefit analysis
B) risk assessment
C) implementation analysis
D) forecasting

Answer 3

B

Question 4

Which decision-making tool studies the expected outcomes of a policy proposal while also calculating the expected financial impact?

A) cost-benefit analysis
B) risk assessment
C) implementation analysis
D) forecasting

Question 5

Which of the following does not attempt to assign dollar values to potential benefits but instead compares different policy alternatives that can produce these benefits in terms of their relative costs?

A) cost-effectiveness analysis
B) risk assessment
C) program evaluation
D) impact analysis

Question 6

A difficult and relatively infrequent type of policy analysis that systematically examines ethical or normative issues in public policy is referred to as a ______.

A) cost-benefit analysis
B) ethical analysis
C) decision analysis
D) risk analysis

Question 7

______ focuses on analyzing policy results and outcomes.

A) Decision analysis
B) Risk assessment
C) Cost-effectiveness analysis
D) Program evaluation

Question 8

With the scarcity of government resources in the past several years, the evaluative criterion of ______ has become more and more important.

A) political feasibility
B) efficiency
C) effectiveness
D) social acceptability

Question 9

Evaluative criteria are ______.

A) the policy alternatives available to policy actors
B) those that measure the policy actors involved in a policy issue
C) justifications or rationales for a policy or government action
D) arbitrary standards that are the same for all policy issues

Question 10

Which of the following policy analysis criteria looks at the costs in relation to benefits?

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

Question 11

Which government office is in charge of monitoring how other agencies conduct cost-benefit analyses?

A) Office of Management and Budget
B) Office of Cost Efficiency
C) Council of Economic Advisors
D) Council of Environmental Quality

Question 12

Policy analysts can estimate the value of the time sitting in traffic through ______.

A) contingent valuation methods
B) sensitivity analysis
C) risk evaluation
D) impact assessment

Question 13

In some states, legislators may be more likely to propose laws allowing gay marriage than in other states. Gay marriage is more ______ in the states that pass such laws.

A) equitable
B) technically feasible
C) effective
D) socially acceptable

Question 14

Do federally funded abstinence-only programs actually prevent teenage pregnancy? This is a question that relates to the ______ of that policy alternative.

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

Question 15

Which term is used in cost-benefit analysis when discussing the present value of future benefits?

A) discount rate
B) indexing
C) opportunity cost
D) sensitivity analysis

Question 16

Not every state has laws that require motorcyclists to wear helmets even though they have been shown to reduce the severity of injuries in the event of an accident. States without these laws have weighed the criterion of ______ more strongly than effectiveness.

A) equity
B) efficiency
C) social acceptability
D) liberty/freedom

Question 17

Which of the following policy analysis criteria deals with whether a policy has a fair process or policy outcome?

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

Question 18

The debate over ______, discussed in the beginning of Chapter 6, involved policy proposals that utilized many of the instruments of public policy as well as most of the evaluative criteria.

A) health-care policy
B) education policy
C) welfare policy
D) energy policy

Question 19

Which analytical technique uses historical data to make estimates of future numbers?

A) cost-benefit analysis
B) risk assessment
C) implementation analysis
D) forecasting

Question 20

When determining how to respond to rising energy costs, policymakers assessed the likely environmental, health, and safety impacts of energy exploration, development, and use. This is an example of ______.

A) applying risk-assessment approaches to analyze policy options
B) the evaluative criterion of liberty
C) assessing the cost-benefit of the policy options
D) assessing the technical feasibility of the options

Question 21

Which evaluative criterion is concerned with the perceived fairness of the policymaking process or its outcomes?

Question 22

What is forecasting?

Question 23

Gasoline prices surged in ______.

A) 2009-2010
B) 2010-2011
C) 2011-2012
D) 2012-2013

Question 24

Which evaluative criterion is concerned with how that policy proposal might impinge on individuals' rights and choices?

Question 25

Equity concerns are central when it comes to ______ policies, since different groups of people pay for and benefit from these policies.

A) redistributive
B) regulatory
C) monetary
D) salient

Question 26

Explain how cost-benefit analysis works.

Question 27

The U.S. Census Bureau estimated a U.S. population of about 390 million in ______.

A) 2020
B) 2030
C) 2040
D) 2050

Question 28

Which evaluative criterion is concerned with how well the policy has worked and the policy outcomes that occur?

Question 29

______ can be defined as a procedure for producing factual information about future states of society on the basis of prior information about policy problems.

A) Effectiveness
B) Equity
C) Risk management
D) Forecasting

Question 30

A college student could be working as a waiter and earning US$20,000 annually. However, he is attending college and forgoing that income. This is an example of the ______ to attend college, a cost that the student hopes will be worth the investment in the long run.

A) discount
B) risk evaluation
C) opportunity cost
D) efficiency

Question 31

What are some of the benefits of using a sensitivity analysis?

Question 32

Which evaluative criterion is concerned with the likely outcomes of the policy relative to the cost to implement it?

Question 33

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) uses ______ to determine the level of chemicals and other pollutants that can be present in water and still be considered safe to drink.

A) contingent valuation methods
B) sensitivity analysis
C) risk evaluation
D) impact assessment

Question 34

Being stuck in traffic imposes ______ on drivers because they could be doing something more productive with their time.

A) a policy gridlock
B) an opportunity cost
C) a risk assessment
D) an inducement

Question 35

In ______, Congress approved the Food Safety Modernization Act to ensure that the U.S. food supply is safe.

A) 2000
B) 2005
C) 2010
D) 2015

Question 36

A local government is interested in planning for certain services for older adults as the baby boom generation ages. The agency develops estimates of the number of older adults who will be living in the area in 2015, 2020, 2025, and 2030. This is an example of ______.

A) impact analysis
B) cost-benefit analysis
C) risk assessment
D) forecasting

Question 37

______ is a close relative of cost-benefit analysis.

A) Risk assessment
B) Opportunity costs
C) Risk evaluation
D) Risk management

Question 38

The population of the United States was about ______ million in 2019.

A) 300
B) 315
C) 330
D) 400

Question 39

Explain the contingent valuation method technique.

Question 40

What are impact assessments?

Question 41

What is the focus of program evaluations?

Question 42

What is an ethical analysis?

Question 43

Which are the three most commonly utilized criteria for evaluating policy proposals? Define each of these three criteria and give an example of a policy proposal (real or fictitious) in which it could be used.

Question 44

Explain the general approach to conducting a cost-benefit analysis.

Question 45

Identify different types of job impact studies.

Question 46

Why are policies almost never self-implementing?

Question 47

Ethical analysis is most appropriate for what kinds of issues?

Question 48

Why might forecasting be used to examine an issue? What are the potential drawbacks of this technique?

Question 49

Why have conservatives and business interests favored the use of risk assessment methods for domestic policy conflicts?

Question 50

Compare and contrast cost-effectiveness analysis and cost-benefit analysis.

Question 51

What is a discount rate and what does it allow analysts to do.

Question 52

What are the two different meanings of the term equity?

Question 53

In a general sense, what are evaluative criteria, and what is their value to policymakers attempting to choose the best policy options?

Question 54

What is risk evaluation?

Question 55

Define risk.

Question 56

Define risk management.

Question 57

Why is policy implementation one of the most important steps in the policy making process?

Question 58

What is an advantage of using a cost-effectiveness analysis?

Question 59

Explain what is involved in risk assessment and when this approach is used.

Question 60

Discuss the political and institutional approaches to understand proposed policy alternatives.