Midterm Review Flashcards
(62 cards)
What are the Eight Steps in the Eightfold path
1) define the problem
2) assemble some evidence
3) construct alternatives
4) select criteria
5) Project Outcomes
6) Confront Trade-offs
7) Decide
8) Share results
Describe step one in eightfold path
Define the problem -
Do’s:
- think of deficit/excess
- specify and quantify
- think of opportunities for improvement, not just problems
Don’ts:
- don’t analyze or embed solutions in def.
- do not expand or confine scope
used as the basis for your analysis
What private dealings cause public problems that need to be addressed?
Describe step 2
assemble evidence
- gather evidence from all different types of sources – make use of past and present policies in other contexts, locations, or times to analyze possible solutions and similar problems
Describe Step 3
construct alternatives
- one part of the outcomes matrix (then add criteria in step 4 and project outcomes in step 5)
- Things Gov’s do handout
(Taxes
Ex. on sales, property, income
Regulation
Ex. Securities Exchange Commission
Subsidies & Grants
Ex. housing vouchers, food stamps, research grants
Service Provision
Ex. fire-police, streets/highways
Information
Ex. food labeling
The Structure of Private Rights
Ex. labor law, family law
The Framework of Economic Activity
Ex. antitrust, utilities
Education and Consultation
Ex. neighborhood watch, CDC advisories
Financing and Contracting
Ex. military procurement
Bureaucratic and Political Reform
Ex. creation of new bureau or commission)
- do cost-benefit analysis and analyze to criteria
Describe step 4
Select Criteria
- choose most important criteria (criteria being targets you hope a policy to reach or achieve)
- incrementalism might be good and can be its own criteria
- most common criteria
(Efficacy:
the alternative will reduce the severity of the problem
Efficiency:
a1) the alternative will add more benefit than cost
a2) the alternative will add benefit at minimum added cost
b) the alternative will minimize waste of resources
c) the alternative will improve the allocation of benefits and burdens economically
Feasibility:
implementing the alternative can be achieved
Legality:
the alternative will be permissible and within policy actors’ existing authority
Political Acceptability:
the alternative will garner & sustain necessary support among elected officials, voters, etc.
Equity (Fairness, Justice):
a) the alternative will treat those affected evenhandedly
b) the alternative will take into account social disadvantage
c) the alternative will redistribute in a way which advances equality
Freedom:
the alternative will not unduly burden the free choice of producers, consumers, and citizens generally)
- use outcomes matrix
efficacy vs efficiency
Efficacy - the alternative will reduce the severity of the problem
Efficiency -
a1) the alternative will add more benefit than cost
a2) the alternative will add benefit at minimum added cost
b) the alternative will minimize waste of resources
c) the alternative will improve the allocation of benefits and burdens economically
What is the function of market
Markets Function to Allocate Scarce Resources in Society
- Safe To Assume All Resources Are “Scarce”
Microeconomics
helps frame pub pol problems and assemble evidence
8 Types of Market Failures
- pos / neg externalities
- shared resources
- public goods
- monopolies
- transaction costs (search)
- Transaction costs (private property)
- Information failure
Kirp’s 5-wheeled cart: modes of social choice
(not on study guide)
Markets
- Politics
- Voting
Representation
- Rights
- Courts
Organizations
- Bureaucracy
- Neighborhood associations
- Boards and councils
Experts
^ For all of these consider who analysis is done by and who it is done for
Comparative Pub Pol Analysis (Liu & Geva-May Reading)
Covid as a “naturally occurring experiment” to advance the field of comparative public policy analysis - helps improve responses to future crises
neg/pos externalities
neg - spillover effects of private operations with harmful consequences on the public
pos - spillover effects of private operations with beneficial consequences on the public that beneficiaries don’t/can’t be charged for
public good
goods with free riding like fireworks or military where all consumers cannot be identified and charged due to cost or infeasibility
monopoly / oligopoly
when market power is in the hands of a select few because there are to few firms which can lead to price discrimination and underproduction
Information Failure/Asymmetry
when consumers know more about their wants/demand than producers or when producers know more about the good/service than consumers causing potential harm, decline in trust, or low demand
- (ex. pharmaceuticals - failure when doctors or companies don’t make side effects very clear to consumers)
- addressed by regulation and labeling
Transaction Costs (Search)
when producers can’t find consumers or vice versa
- addressed by job fairs and info websites
- ex. labor market
Transaction Costs (Intellectual Property)
When costs to protect creative works are too high to pursue them leading to lower innovation
- addressed by patents, copyrighting, trademark, etc.
- failure - piracy and copyright infringement
Competition (MBN18 - keeping the competition out)
Def: rivalry among buyers or sellers of outputs or inputs
MBN 18:
- Regulatory capture: when businesses and industries sometimes use government regulations to limit competition
- can lead to inefficiencies and higher costs for consumers
Regulatory Capture:
when industry representatives lobby heavily, provide funding, or build close relationships with regulators, leading to rules and policies that favor the industry’s interests rather than those of the public. –> inefficiencies, higher costs reduced innovation
Regulatory Capture
when industry representatives lobby heavily, provide funding, or build close relationships with regulators, leading to rules and policies that favor the industry’s interests rather than those of the public.
–> inefficiencies, higher costs, reduced innovation
Cost (MBN 1)
the most valuable alternative that is forgone when making a decision
opportunity cost
the cost of what you miss out on. What you could have gotten if you had chosen a different alternative
Full Cost/price (MBN 7)
combined measure of everything that must be sacrificed to undertake an activity (money, time, etc.)
(producers full cost, consumers full price)
time cost (MBN7 - obesity)
time it takes for consumers to enjoy a good/service has decreased (microwave meals, online prime delivery, internet, etc.)
Menu Mandates
requiring calories to be labeled on menus (and reduced) to decrease caloric intake by addressing the information failure, however wasn’t successful in the long term
