- Some types involve more interest groups and publics than other types
- Some engender more conflicts than others
- Some are more visible than others
- Some can transform inattentive publics into attentive publics
- Help to categorize things
- Hep to predict what sort of politics will accompany kinds of policies
- Categories aren't always perfect
- A policy can transofrm into different types over time
- A policy can fit into more than one category at the same time
- Takes a resource from a broad group of people and gives it to a smaller group of people
- Can result from logrolling or pork barrel politics
- Often results in Interest Group Liberalism
- Government accomodates a wide range of narrow interests
- Particular interests are served, but the public interest is not
- Examples
- Farm subsidies
- Social Security
- Medicare
- Medicaid
- Student loans
- Tax breaks for home ownership
- Tax breaks for charitable giving
- Interest groups are often formed to protect and expand these policies
- These policies are often popular with the public, politicians, bureaucrats, the media, the courts, the President, and Congress
- These policies are often difficult to change or eliminate
- These policies are often difficult to reform
-
But what about equality? What about fairness?
- Equality denotes sameness or uniform distribution
-
Equity denotes distributions regarded as fair, even though they may contain inequalities and equalities
- In the U.S. context, we have equal opportunity, not equal outcomes
- The Recpients of the policy
- Who gets the benefits?
- The Item of the policy
- What is being distributed?
- The Process of the policy
- How is the distribution made?
- Policies that take (or seem to take) resoruces from one identifiable group and gives them to another identifiable group
- Manipulate the allocation of wealth, property, and personal or civil rights
- Works two ways:
- from the most well-off to the least well-off
- from the least well-off to the most well-off
- Not always about money
- Examples
- Welfare
- Food stamps
- Unemployment insurance
- Social Security
- Medicare
- Medicaid
- Affirmative action
- Civil rights
- These policies are often unpopular with the public, politicians, bureaucrats, the media, the courts, the President, and Congress
- These policies are often difficult to enact, change, or eliminate
- These policies are often difficult to reform
- These policies are often highly visible and very often controversial
- Policies that restrict or constrain the behavior of certain groups or individuals
- Often involve the use of government authority to control or change the behavior of individuals or groups
- Three types of regulatory policies
- Competitive
- Protective
- Constituent
- Policies that seek to promote competition among businesses
- Limit the provision of goods and services to one or a few designated deliverers chosen from many competing potential deliverers.
- Allows the government to regulate the price, quality, and availability of goods and services
- Allows for governmental and professional control of the market
| Public utilities | Laywers | Pharmacists |
| Cable television | Doctors | Accountants |
| Radio and television | Dentists | Architects |
| Airlines | Plumbers | Engineers |
| Trucking | Hairdressers | Real estate agents |
| Railroads | Barbers | Stock brokers |
| Telecommunications | Electricians | Securities dealers |
| Banking | Teachers | Investment advisors |
| Insurance | Nurses | Funeral directors |
| Acupuncturists | Psychologists | Veterinarians |
| Athletic trainers | Social workers | Optometrists |
| Midwives | Marriage and family therapists | Opticians |
| Court reporters | Physical therapists | Chiropractors |
| Private investigators | Speech-language pathologists | Dietitians |
| Polygraph examiners | Audiologists | Nutritionists |
| Security guards | Occupational therapists | Massage therapists |
| Hearing aid dispensers | Respiratory therapists | Radiologic technologists |
- Low visibility and low conflict
- Often supported by the public, politicians, bureaucrats, the media, the courts, the President, and Congress
- Policies designed to protect the public from (potentially) negative effects of pivate acivity
- Often translate into additional costs for businesses, which are passed on to consumers
- Often involve the use of government authority to control or change the behavior of individuals or groups
- Iron triangles and policy networks determine the form and the extent to which these policies are implemented
- Examples
- Environmental protection
- Consumer protection
- Occupational safety and health
- Food and drug safety
- Workplace safety
- Workplace discrimination
- Workplace harassment
- Workplace privacy
- Workplace security
- High visibility and high conflict
- Often opposed by the public, politicians, bureaucrats, the media, the courts, the President, and Congress
- Often difficult to enact, change, or eliminate
- Often difficult to reform
- Policies that seek to protect the rights of individuals
- Intended to benefit the public generally or to serve the government
- Examples
- Foreign and defense policy
- Policies affecting the structure and function of government agencies, as well as policies governing thier operations.
- A method of policy analysis that involves comparing the costs of a policy with its benefits
- Conentrated or Diffuse?
- Social construction of costs and benefits
- If a group is convinced it will bear the costs, they are not likely to support the policy
- Substantive policies are what the government does
- What is the government doing?
- Procedural policies are how the government does it
- e.g., regulatory procedures for rulemaking, such as public hearings, public comment periods, etc.
- Material policies are policies that provide tangible benefits.
- Doing something
- e.g., grant funding for communities to hire more police officers and social workers
- Symbolic policies are policies that provide intangible benefits
- Appeal to values, beliefs, and emotions
- e.g., "Just Say No" to drugs campaign
-
Easiest to generalize
- Liberals: government can solve problems and achieve goals
- Conservatives: government is the problem, not the solution
-
Least useful to analize
- Next time: Decision Making