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Public Policy
Government and
Policymaking
Public policy consists of all those
authoritative public decisions that
governments make.
The outputs of the political
system
Public Policies
Governments engage in various forms
of public policy
Many are directed at the major
challenges facing contemporary states:
Building community
Fostering development
Securing democracy and rights
Public Policies
Public policies may be summarized and
compared according to outputs
classified into four headings:
Distribution
Extraction
Regulation
Symbolic outputs
Welfare State
First modern welfare state programs introduced
in Germany in the 1880s
Bismarck: social insurance programs that protected
workers
Welfare State
Welfare benefits can be expensive and governments
often have limited funds.
There are three principles that govern most welfare
state provisions:
Need - help and services are provided to those that need
them most
Contribution - benefits should go to those that have
contributed to the program
Entitlement/Universalism - everyone should have the
benefit, regardless of specific circumstances
Often applied to primary education or to treatment for lifethreatening diseases
U.S. model in education - equality of opportunity
Distribution
Of money, goods, and services - to citizens,
residents and clients of the state
Laswell - who gets what, when, and how
Extraction
Direct extraction of services
Compulsory military service, jury duty, or compulsory labor
imposed on those convicted of crime
Regulation
Regulation is the exercise of political control
over the behavior of individuals and groups in
society.
Most contemporary governments are both
welfare states and regulatory states.
Government regulate:
By legal means
By offering material or financial inducements
By persuasion or moral exhortation
Regulation
How do we describe and explain the differences
between political systems in the area of
regulation? We ask:
What aspects of human behavior and interaction are
regulated and to what degree?
What social groups are regulated, with what procedural
limitations on enforcement and what rights?
What sanctions are used to compel or induce citizens to
comply?
Community-Building and
Symbolic Policies
Intended to enhance peoples national
identity, civil pride, or trust in
government
Enhance other areas of performance:
Make people pay their taxes more readily
and honestly
Comply with law more faithfully
Accept sacrifice, danger, and hardship
Outcomes: Domestic
Welfare
How do extractive, distributive, regulative, and symbolic
policies affect the lives of citizens?
Sometimes policies have unintended and undesirable
consequences.
To estimate the effectiveness of public policy, we have to
examine actual welfare outcomes as well as governmental
policies and their implementation.
Measures of economic well-being
Nigeria and India - severe problems
Income distribution tends to be most unequal in medium-income
developing societies, such as Brazil, and more equal in advanced
market societies as well as in low-income developing societies, such as
India.
Kuznets Curve
Health outcomes
Education and information technologies