AP gov public policy

Question 1

political patronage

Answer 1

filling of bureaucratic positions based on support for the party, as opposed to merit

Question 2

federal civil service

Answer 2

merit based bureuacracy

Question 3

cabinet departments

Answer 3

main administrative dept’s in the bureaucracy; Congress establishes and funds them; run by secretaries which are appointed by the president and approved by the senate

Question 4

independent regulatory agency

Answer 4

works with a sense of autonomy; monitors and regulate some aspect of the economy like business practices (ex. the Fed, SEC) run by a board/commision

Question 5

independent executive agency

Answer 5

varying degrees of control by the president, have a narrower focus on their mission, specialized (ex. NASA, FCC) run by a board / cimmision

Question 6

government corporation

Answer 6

owned by the government; operates like a private company to provide public services however it works better because it is linked with the government; run by a board or commission (post office and amtrak)

Question 6

bureaucratic discretion

Answer 6

the power to decide how a law is interpreted and decide what Congress meant

Question 7

measures to determine economic health

Answer 7

inflation (key indicator for the right; 2% is good)
unemployment (key indicator for the left 4-6% is good)
GDP
budget decifit/surplus

Question 8

fiscal policy

Answer 8

taxing and spending to slow/speed up the economy
used by the president, Congress, CBO, OMB

Question 9

monetary policy

Answer 9

control the money supply (how much is in circulation) by raising interest or lowering interest rates

Question 10

tools of monetary policy

Answer 10

open market operations; selling bonds=less money in circulation and buying bonds= more money in circulation

Question 11

inflation

Answer 11

can be caused by an excess amount of money supply and increasing IR can reduce it

Question 12

Keynesian economics

Answer 12

during a recession the govt should increase spending and decrease taxes to stimulate the economy; use fiscal policy; popular among democrats and they may build up some debt but it used to help the economy

Question 13

free market/supply side/monetarist

Answer 13

stimulate the economy by decreasing government regulation and lowering taxes and interest rates giving businesses more freedom to operate; use monetary policy