Deck 5: Public Problems and Policy Alternatives

Question 1

The case of immigration reform illustrates the importance of ______.

A) the policy tool of sanctions
B) risk analysis
C) a strong problem analysis
D) the policy tool of regulation

Answer 1

C

Question 2

In an attempt to change the behavior or attitudes of citizens, government leaders often use ______ policy tools, which refer to making public addresses or speeches to exhort citizens to do something.

A) authority
B) hortatory
C) inducement
D) sanction

Answer 2

B

Question 3

Which of the following illustrates an operational measure of the safety of a community?

A) index crime rates, such as violent and property crimes
B) automobile crashes per capita
C) how safe residents report that they feel on a survey
D) all of these

Answer 3

D

Question 4

Which of the following states wanted to enact a law that would entail requiring proof of immigration status?

A) Alabama
B) California
C) Nebraska
D) Colorado

Question 5

Which of the following illustrates an operational measure of school quality?

A) parental comments
B) the number of courses offered at the school
C) the taxes available for education
D) standardized test scores

Question 6

______ refers to the process of the government choosing which specific policy instruments will be used to address a public problem.

A) Policy design
B) Problem analysis
C) Parallel situation analysis
D) Quantitative data

Question 7

There are an estimated ______ million illegal immigrants residing in the United States.

A) 5
B) 7
C) 11
D) 15

Question 8

Governments may invest in training programs for their own staff or for the public. This policy design tool is referred to as ______.

A) capacity-building tools
B) authority tools
C) creative thinking
D) inducements

Question 9

Problem definition involves ______.

A) defining and measuring the scope of a societal problem.
B) political influence on how the problem is framed.
C) conducting or reviewing research that documents a societal problem.
D) all of these

Question 10

Undocumented immigrants constitute only about ______% of Alabama's workforce.

A) 2
B) 4
C) 6
D) 8

Question 11

______ are observable ways to define a problem.

A) Cost-benefit analyses
B) Operational measures
C) Pragmatic measures
D) Policy alternatives

Question 12

Policy analysts study the nature of the problem. Which statement below best defines what this refers to?

A) the severity, scope, and causes of the problem
B) the operational measures of the problem
C) primary data collection
D) the evaluative criteria that should be applied to the problem

Question 13

Examining books, journals, and reports regarding a particular problem or solution represents the use of the ______ technique of collecting information.

A) brainstorming
B) literature review
C) parallel situations
D) quick surveys

Question 14

______ involves finding solutions to a problem by spontaneously sharing ideas without initial regard to practicality or feasibility.

A) Brainstorming
B) No-action analysis
C) Analogy and metaphor
D) Literature review

Question 15

The policy design tools that rely on the premise that most people will behave because they have been told to do so are known as _____.

A) learning tools
B) capacity-building tools
C) hortatory tools
D) authority tools

Question 16

Which of the following information sources would provide an initial overview of a subject or problem and would be a good place to begin the process of policy analysis?

A) a specialized journal on the topic
B) The American Statistical Index
C) The New York Times
D) an interview with a key policy maker

Question 17

Indicators of sustainability refer to _____ data that attempt to measure a community's progress toward the goal of sustainability.

A) capacity
B) quantitative
C) interview
D) estimated

Question 18

When developing policy alternatives to address a problem, the policy maker should examine ______, which refer(s) to how well the policy has worked in a state, pilot test, or other smaller scale attempt to implement it.

A) real-world or parallel situations
B) literature reviews
C) forecasting
D) implementation

Question 19

Which creative thinking tool begins with an analysis of the status quo as a baseline?

A) analogy
B) brainstorming
C) no-action analysis
D) quick surveys

Question 20

Which of the following presidential candidates campaigned for building a wall?

A) Clinton
B) Trump
C) Romney
D) Bush

Question 21

The beginning of any policy study involves a description of a ______.

Question 22

A city that encourages citizens to serve on a community sustainability advisory panel so that they will develop greater awareness and engagement is using a ______ policy tool.

A) hortatory
B) regulatory
C) learning
D) capacity

Question 23

In the early 1990s, the state of Wisconsin pilot tested a variety of welfare reform programs such as Workfare and Learnfare. These programs helped the federal government reform its major welfare program in 1996. This is an example of

A) authority policy tools.
B) taxing and spending.
C) the politics of problem definition.
D) use of real-world situations to develop policies.

Question 24

The Affordable Care Act (Obama's health-care law) included funding for many pilot projects and special studies that will be used to select future policy options to use on a more widespread basis. The funding of these efforts is an example of the policy tools called ______.

A) ration
B) hortatory tools
C) conduct research
D) use of market incentives

Question 25

Providing direct payments or benefits to individuals is an example of _____.

A) regulating
B) subsidizing
C) educating
D) taxing and spending

Question 26

When the government encourages you to buy a home by allowing you to take an interest deduction, it is using which policy instrument?

A) regulating
B) educating
C) taxing and spending
D) charging fees

Question 27

Toll roads require motorists to pay for the use of the roads. Local or state governments that have toll roads are using which policy tool?

A) privatizing
B) rationing
C) subsidizing
D) charging fees

Question 28

Public service announcements on television or radio represent what form of government policy tool?

A) privatization
B) regulation
C) taxing and spending
D) education

Question 29

Statistical information can be displayed in which of the following ways?

A) pie charts
B) line figures
C) bar charts
D) all of these

Question 30

Policy tools that are focused on either increasing the availability of a good or reducing the need for that good would be looking at a problem from which perspective?

A) effective or efficient
B) supply and demand
C) liberal or conservative
D) internal and external

Question 31

The National Park Service (NPS) issues a limited number of backpacking permits at some parks. What type of policy tool is this?

A) subsidizing
B) rationing
C) contracting out
D) providing market incentives

Question 32

Cities that use "visioning" exercises to get citizens to think about what they desire for future development in their community are using ______ to compare policy alternatives.

A) a case study
B) a parallel situation
C) a literature review
D) an ideal situation

Question 33

Operational measures are also referred to as ______.

Question 34

Many school districts hire out private businesses to maintain school buildings or provide school lunches. In this case, the districts are using which policy tool to meet their needs?

A) privatizing
B) rationing
C) subsidizing
D) charging fees

Question 35

The poverty line for a family of four is higher in which of the following states?

A) Hawaii and Alaska
B) California and Hawaii
C) New York and Washington
D) Florida and California

Question 36

The ______ is essential to make sense of a problem, to see how it compares to other concerns in our personal lives or in society, and to estimate what effects a proposal or action might have.

Question 37

In 2015, the U.S. government reported that ______ million Americans were poor.

A) 23.2
B) 37.6
C) 43.1
D) 51.9

Question 38

The State of the USA, Inc., website launched in ______.

A) 2000
B) 2006
C) 2009
D) 2011

Question 39

Local governments often hire nonprofit organizations to provide some of the services government provides, such as treatment for drug addiction or maintenance of trails. These are examples of ______.

A) contracting out
B) subsidizing
C) regulating
D) educating

Question 40

The Obama health-care reforms were approved in ______.

A) 2008
B) 2009
C) 2010
D) 2011

Question 41

______ enable those seeking a solution to communicate with one another with a degree of precision that otherwise might not be possible.

Question 42

______ begins with the status quo.

Question 43

Economists want to replace the gross domestic product with the ______.

Question 44

Identify a particular public policy problem and give an example of an operational measure that reflects it. Explain why your measure is appropriate to that problem.

Question 45

______ encourage people to act in a certain way because they will gain from doing so.

Question 46

What is involved in problem analysis? Explain how trying to define a simple problem is often political. Give your own example of analyzing a problem (such as illegal immigration).

Question 47

______ are abundant for most contemporary public problems.

Question 48

A ______ is an examination of books, journal articles, Internet sites, and other sources.

Question 49

______ involve talking with people in a particular policy network or searching through hearing transcripts, minutes of meetings, newspaper accounts, and the like for pertinent information about a problem and policy alternatives.

Question 50

Give an example of an educational policy tool that government uses or could use. Why might policy makers choose to use these tools (rather than another alternative) to deal with a particular public problem?

Question 51

Identify and describe two policy instruments that rely on financial means to prompt action by citizens or corporations.

Question 52

______ is a key part of setting the agenda.

Question 53

The first step in policy making is to ______.

Question 54

Critics have derided ______ as a fuzzy if not meaningless term.

Question 55

Based on your study of policy tools in Chapter 5, choose an example policy issue to work with (such as illegal immigration, cell phone use while driving, reforming health care, reduction of carbon emissions, or your own). Discuss four of the policy tools available and how they could be applied to this problem, explaining what they are and how they work.

Question 56

The ______ is used to measure the sum total of goods and services produced in the economy.

Question 57

More flexible and efficient policy reforms were referred to by the Bill Clinton administration as ______.

Question 58

Examples of ______ include economic projections, population estimates, and future energy needs.

Question 59

Policy analysts might review what happened in ______, when policies for similar problems were previously enacted, in order to consider applying the same policy tool for a current situation.

Question 60

Describe the steps and issues involved in analyzing a problem and why it is difficult.

Question 61

What are capacity-building tools?

Question 62

How do policy analysts come up with policy proposals? Describe several methods or approaches that policy makers use to develop policy proposals.

Question 63

What does the term policy design mean?

Question 64

What are policy tools?

Question 65

How is the choice of policy tools determined?