Deck 15: Domestic and Economic Policy

Question 1

Public policy can be divided into what two major categories?

A) regulatory policy and procedural policy
B) distributive policy and redistributive policy
C) procedural policy and substantive policy
D) regulatory policy and social welfare policy
E) regulatory policy and public policy.

Answer 1

D

Question 2

Regulatory policy involves the use of

A) the ballot.
B) governmental police powers.
C) the military.
D) the Supreme Court.
E) citizen powers.

Answer 2

B

Question 3

Which of the following is NOT an example of social welfare policy?

A) cash assistance
B) stipend
C) capital punishment
D) grants
E) entitlements

Answer 3

C

Question 4

What is the first step in the life cycle of policy making?

A) Placement of the problem on the national policy agenda
B) Emergence of the problem as a "public issue" requiring government action
C) One or more reformulations of the proposed policy
D) Enactment of part or all of the proposed policy
E) Redefinition of a public or private "condition" as a public "problem"

Question 5

Several factors make public policy making a highly political process including

A) the fragmentation created by a federal system of government.
B) alliances (logrolling).
C) policies that benefit particular states or districts (pork barrel legislation).
D) All of the Above
E) None of the Above.

Question 6

Which of the following is NOT a part of the life cycle of policy making?

A) redefinition of a social condition as a social problem
B) formulation of the problem as a public issue
C) implementation of the policy
D) approval by religious leaders
E) pork barreling.

Question 7

Public policies are

A) the decisions, actions, and commitments of government.
B) the specific details and daily operations of individual government agencies.
C) nothing but general wishes on the part of certain top government officials.
D) policies that are not kept secret because of national security concerns.
E) policies that rely solely on the use of police powers for their execution.

Question 8

Which of the following is NOT one of the four aims of public policies enacted by the national government?

A) to regulate key industries and aspects of American life
B) to protect Americans from actual or potential enemies at home and abroad
C) to encourage the accomplishment of important social goals
D) to reduce government's national debt
E) to assist with the wide range of American citizens.

Question 9

The second step in the life cycle of policy making is

A) formulation of a public policy response, usually followed by a pledge of action.
B) redefinition of a public or private "condition" as a public "problem."
C) evaluation of the impact of the policy.
D) placement of the proposed policy on the formal agenda of government.
E) emergence of the problem as a "public issue" requiring government action

Question 10

When did Congress create the Environmental Protection Agency?

A) 1950
B) 1960
C) 1970
D) 1980
E) 1990

Question 11

Policy elites include all of the following EXCEPT

A) members of Congress.
B) Supreme Court justices.
C) leading journalists.
D) teachers of social studies in secondary schools.
E) President's cabinet.

Question 12

Policy makers are willing to live with various social conditions until

A) they die.
B) foreign governments intervene.
C) the condition is redefined as a social problem.
D) the Supreme Court orders Congress to address it.
E) the condition personally effects them.

Question 13

The national government engages in ______ kinds of regulatory activity.

A) two
B) four
C) six
D) eight
E) ten

Question 14

The public agenda is the

A) policies scheduled for debate and potential adoption by Congress.
B) items that the president will make pronouncements about on a given day.
C) cases considered or requested to be considered by the Supreme Court.
D) set of topics that are of concern to policy elites and/or the public.
E) is policy that is constructed and put into effect by the federal government.

Question 15

A critical development that converts a routine problem into a widely shared, negative public response is termed

A) elite policy.
B) agenda politics.
C) formal policy.
D) entrepreneurial policy.
E) triggering mechanism.

Question 16

The policies that are actually scheduled for debate and potential adoption by Congress, the president, the Supreme Court, or executive departments and agencies are called the

A) public agenda.
B) formal agenda.
C) congressional agenda.
D) procedural agenda.
E) entrepreneurial policies.

Question 17

The act of providing the organization and expertise required to put into action any policy that has become law; also refers to the actual execution of a policy is known as a(n)

A) triggering mechanism.
B) entrepreneurial policy.
C) congressional mandate.
D) procedural mandate.
E) implementation.

Question 18

Difficulty in implementing federal policies relates to the three Cs of implementation. Which of the following is NOT one of the three C's?

A) complexity
B) cooperation
C) coordination
D) continuity.
E) All of the above are part of the three Cs of implementation.

Question 19

The required period of monitoring and analysis of federal policies following their implementation is called

A) policy regulation
B) policy monitoring
C) policy triggering.
D) policy initiation.
E) policy evaluation.

Question 20

Regulatory policy has ___________ over the past century.

A) rapidly declined
B) gradually declined
C) remained constant
D) rapidly increased
E) gradually increased.

Question 21

Americans became vitally interested in environmental issues in the

A) 1880s and 1890s.
B) 1930s and 1940s.
C) 1960s and 1970s.
D) 1980s and 1990s.
E) Twenty-first century.

Question 22

The triggering mechanism for environmental policy making at the federal level was the 1962 publication of ____________Silent Spring.

A) Al Gore's
B) Bill Clinton's
C) Barack Obama's
D) George H.W. Bush's
E) Rachel Carson's

Question 23

An individual or group who is instrumental in selling a program or policy to a policy-making body is called a(n)

A) policy inventor.
B) policy entrepreneur.
C) issue initiator.
D) campaign manager.
E) policy elite.

Question 24

When Congress enacted a national speed limit, the government denied federal funds for highway construction to states not enforcing it. Thus, the government quickly achieved full

A) entitlements.
B) implementation.
C) regulation.
D) enforcement.
E) adaptation.

Question 25

If a policy is continued, it enters into the _______________, so that information about its consequences can be re-analyzed in the formulation of new policies.

A) black hole
B) reiteration cycle
C) disinformation network
D) feedback loop
E) evaluation loop.

Question 26

Characteristics that contribute to the effectiveness of public policies include

A) a clearly written policy statement.
B) strong presidential support for the policy.
C) local cooperation in the implementation of the policy.
D) all of the above.
E) none of the above.

Question 27

Policies designed to create special benefits for a particular state or district are called

A) pork barrel legislation.
B) fragmented legislation.
C) trade-off legislation.
D) rollover policies.
E) logrolling legislation.

Question 28

An iron triangle is comprised of key legislative committees, executive agencies supervised by those committees, and

A) the news media covering those agencies and committees.
B) public opinion pollsters.
C) interest groups.
D) federal judges.
E) cabinet members.

Question 29

A policy reaches the formal agenda when it is

A) funded.
B) scheduled for debate.
C) accepted by an interest group.
D) approved by the chief administrator.
E) it is the process of being evaluated.

Question 30

Which of the following acts set strict limitations on pollution from utilities and automobile emissions?

A) Safe Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986
B) Water Pollution Control Act of 1972
C) National Environmental Policy Act of 1969
D) Clean Air Act of 1990
E) Federal Water Pollution Control Act of 1948.

Question 31

Federal policy making that involves numerous actors and levels who move in and out of the policy-making process are called

A) issue networks.
B) policy riders.
C) program patterns.
D) disciplinary deliberations.
E) free riders.

Question 32

_________ policies are designed to regulate conduct and protect the health and welfare of all Americans.

A) Environmental
B) Public
C) Social welfare
D) Regulatory
E) Economic

Question 33

When were the highest levels of regulation reached?

A) 1920s and 1930s
B) 1940s and 1950s
C) 1960s and 1970s
D) 1980s and 1990s
E) Twenty-first century.

Question 34

When did the trend for deregulation emerge?

A) mid-60s
B) mid-70s
C) mid-80s
D) mid-90s
E) mid-50s

Question 35

The Water Pollution Control Act was passed in

A) 1963.
B) 1972.
C) 1990.
D) 1995.
E) 2008

Question 36

In 1970, Congress created what government body to combat air and water pollution?

A) Environmental Protection Agency
B) Department of the Environment
C) Department of Natural Resources
D) Department of the Interior
E) Department of Homeland Security

Question 37

The Kyoto Protocol was a commitment by 150 nations to

A) collectively find a cure for AIDS.
B) end the horror of genocide or ethnic cleansing.
C) seriously address the problem of global warming.
D) destroy all nuclear missiles.
E) try to bring an end to the war in Iraq.

Question 38

______________ is intended to alleviate the numerous problems associated with poverty in contemporary American society.

A) Regulatory policy
B) Economic policy
C) Environmental policy
D) Social welfare policy
E) Health and safety policy.

Question 39

Two books, both published in 1904, were influential in elevating poverty to the status of a political issue. The two books were titled Shame of the Cities and

A) Greed.
B) Tale of Homelessness.
C) The Downtrodden.
D) Wuthering Heights.
E) Poverty.

Question 40

The federally determined level of income below which the government considers the person eligible to receive assistance is called the

A) entitlement level.
B) poverty level.
C) food stamp level.
D) disadvantaged level.
E) Medicare level.

Question 41

Social Security was designed as a(n)

A) save-and-spend system.
B) pay-for-it-at-the-end system.
C) pay-as-you-go system.
D) unfunded mandate.
E) entitlement system.

Question 42

An example of the complexity of environmental regulation is the increased use of _______________ policies that allow companies to build facilities in one area that may pollute if they lower pollution in another area.

A) environmental impact
B) dynamic
C) logrolling
D) offset
E) surcharge

Question 43

In what year was poverty elevated to the status of a political issue as a result of works by muckraking journalists, including Robert Hunter's Poverty?

A) 1904
B) 1935
C) 1945
D) 1969
E) 1974

Question 44

Government-sponsored benefits and cash payments to those who meet eligibility requirements are called

A) grants-in-aid.
B) kickbacks.
C) entitlements.
D) Federal Pell Grants.
E) means test.

Question 45

The heart of social welfare policy in the United States and the largest nondefense item in the federal budget is

A) Social Security.
B) Aid to Families with Dependent Children.
C) food stamps.
D) the Job Training Partnership Act.
E) Great Society program

Question 46

Congress has made several efforts to apply __________ to Social Security entitlements-that is, to link benefits to income and provide payments only to the "truly disadvantaged"-but such efforts have failed owing to successful lobbying by senior citizen groups.

A) Lemmon testing
B) scrutiny testing
C) litmus testing
D) social security testing.
E) means testing

Question 47

Which of the following Presidents initiated the "New "Frontier" policy?

A) Franklin Delano Roosevelt
B) Harry Truman
C) Dwight D. Eisenhower
D) Richard Nixon
E) John F. Kennedy

Question 48

The federal program Aid to Families with Dependent Children

A) was created in 1915.
B) was very popular.
C) was terminated in 1996.
D) was a Great Society program.
E) never caught on in the United States

Question 49

The Family Support Act was passed in

A) 1988.
B) 1934.
C) 1919.
D) 1995.
E) 2000.

Question 50

__________ is the requirement that recipients of welfare programs such as AFDC work on public works unless they find employment elsewhere.

A) Welfare
B) Workforce
C) Peace Corp
D) Proaction
E) Workfare

Question 51

The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act was signed by

A) Richard Nixon.
B) Jimmy Carter.
C) George Bush.
D) Bill Clinton.
E) Lyndon Johnson

Question 52

The Social Security Act was the centerpiece of whose program?

A) Kennedy's New Frontier
B) Johnson's Great Society
C) Roosevelt's New Deal
D) Nixon's New Federalism
E) Reagan's Detente

Question 53

Congress has made several attempts to link Social Security benefits to income. This is called

A) means testing.
B) contributory programming.
C) linkage.
D) financial decoupling.
E) triggering.

Question 54

The Depression acted as a triggering mechanism to translate the economic condition of poverty into a

A) nonpartisan matter.
B) world issue.
C) local issue.
D) political issue.
E) social issues.

Question 55

Lyndon Johnson used the Economic Opportunity Act and the Medicare Act to fight poverty as part of the

A) War on Poverty.
B) Washington Good-Neighbor Ordinance.
C) Educational Cleanup.
D) Politics-by-Choice.
E) New Frontier

Question 56

Impoundment refers to

A) the president's overturning of the previous administration's policies.
B) Congress's refusal to appropriate money.
C) the president's refusal to spend appropriated funds.
D) Congress's insistence on specific spending requirements.
E) the Senate's refusal to approve funds already appropriated.

Question 57

The cornerstone of the 1988 Family Support Act was the idea of

A) work in exchange for benefits.
B) welfare payments for all family members, not just adults.
C) welfare benefits tied to Social Security payroll taxes.
D) cost-of-living allowances for welfare recipients.
E) the elimination of all welfare benefits.

Question 58

The dollar amount of annual earnings below which a family is considered poor is known as the

A) AFDC payment.
B) cash assistance level.
C) poverty level.
D) annual earnings measurement.
E) gross domestic product.

Question 59

The federal poverty level is a figure established by the

A) Congressional Budget Office.
B) Office of Management and Budget.
C) Pentagon.
D) Census Bureau.
E) Health and Human Services.

Question 60

The 2020 decision by the Minneapolis City Council to dismantle the police department is an example of a _____________ change.

A) Public policy
B) Foreign policy
C) National policy
D) Essential policy
E) Back the blue

Question 61

The CROWN Act, passed into law in California in 2019, prohibits discrimination based on:

A) Zip code
B) Hair texture and style
C) Height
D) Criminal record
E) State

Question 62

In 2019, Senator Bernie Sanders (D, VT) introduced legislation to raise the federal minimum wage from _____ dollars and hour to _____ dollars an hour.

A) 7, 10
B) 7.25, 15
C) 10, 12
D) 8.25, 12.25
E) 10, 20

Question 63

President Trump pulled the US out of the _______ Climate Accord.

A) Rio de Janeiro
B) Berlin
C) Tokyo
D) Paris
E) Nairobi

Question 64

The two biggest CO2 emitters in the world are _________ and __________.

A) China, India
B) China, USA
C) China, South Africa
D) Japan, Germany
E) Poland, Zimbabwe

Question 65

There are four aims to public policy enacted by the government.

Question 66

In contrast to regulatory policy, social welfare policy uses positive incentives to promote or encourage basic social fairness.

Question 67

The making of public policy is a benign process.

Question 68

The policy life cycle consists of eleven steps or stages.

Question 69

The distinction between problems and conditions is critical for understanding public policy.

Question 70

The killings at Columbine High School had no real effect on any debate concerning gun control.

Question 71

Courts formulate and reformulate public policy by adopting a policy position.

Question 72

Government agencies formulate policy by issuing regulations explaining how the agency will enforce and interpret a new law.

Question 73

Implementation is a critical development that converts a routine problem into a widely shared, negative public response.

Question 74

A public agenda is the set of topics that concern policy elites, the general public, or both.

Question 75

A very vaguely written law contributes to the effectiveness of public policy.

Question 76

One example of regulatory policy is the performance of safety standards.

Question 77

By the mid-1950s regulatory activity of the government declined.

Question 78

The 1976 Resource Conservation and Recovery Act regulated the disposal of hazardous waste.

Question 79

The Clean Air Act of 1990 set strict limitations on pollution from utilities and automobile emissions

Question 80

The Kyoto Protocol aims to reduce greenhouse gas emission levels to at least 5 percent below 1990 levels.