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The Public Policy Process

The Public Policy Process. Week 9: policy types. Some reminders. I will get your agenda memos back ASAP Then I will start reading rewrites Keep doing and sending rewrites! Visit me if you need to—don’t just wait for office hours!

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The Public Policy Process

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  1. The Public Policy Process Week 9: policy types

  2. Some reminders I will get your agenda memos back ASAP Then I will start reading rewrites Keep doing and sending rewrites! Visit me if you need to—don’t just wait for office hours! The due dates on many assignments have changed; the revised syllabus has been posted. Don’t forget to review the notes on the midterm exam, posted on the course website.

  3. What we’ve done so far Introduced the idea of the policy process Described the goals of public policy Outlined problems Learned about long-term and changeable features of the policy environment Considered the roles of official and unofficial actors Discussed groups, power, and the agenda setting process

  4. What’s next: Today: Policy Types (more interesting than I thought!) Next Week: Policy Tools April 6: Policy Implementation, Failure, and Learning April 13: The Science of Public Policy April 20: Class Cancelled April 27: Review, Summary, Ideas about the Final (Final will be posted before class)

  5. What Is a “Policy”? • Public policy: What the government, acting on our behalf, chooses to do or not to do. • A policy is a statement by government of what it intends to do or not to do, such as a law, regulation, ruling, decision, or order, or a combination of these.

  6. What are some examples of these levels of policy? • Constitutional • Statutory • Regulatory • SOPs • Street-level bureaucrats • Subtle changes in cognition

  7. Codifying and Publicizing Policies

  8. Why does the level of policy matter? • Visibility • Respect • Compliance

  9. Policy Types • A way of predicting policy outcomes • How? By categorizing the “type” of policy • Weak typology: substantive policy type • Education • Environment • Health

  10. A Good Policy Typology is • Generalizable • Mutually exclusive • Collectively exhaustive • Explanation and prediction: • “Knowing what kind of policy we are dealing with would allow the policy designer to predict the sorts of policy conflict that would precede the policy’s enactment, and what sort of conflict might arise after the policy is adopted and implemented.”

  11. Theodore Lowi’s Classic Typology • Lowi: Distributive, Regulatory, and Redistributive Policy • Ripley and Franklin: • Protective Regulatory • Competitive Regulatory

  12. What is distributive policy • Policies with many beneficiaries • Policies where those who pay are diffuse • Logrolling • Examples • Farm subsidies • Local infrastructure • “Pork”

  13. What are the problems of distributive policy? • Clienteleism • “Interest group liberalism” • The failure to make tough decisions about what are broader national needs.

  14. Competitive regulatory • “Limit the provision of goods and services to one or a few designated deliverers, who are chosen from a larger number of competing potential deliverers.” • Conflict is limited, low key • Examples: • Allocation of radio and TV frequencies • Utility franchises • Regulation of doctors, lawyers, other professions

  15. Protective regulatory • Protect people from negative effects of business • Not always opposed by business! • But is still more contentious than competitive regulatory • Examples • Environmental regulation • Health care reform! • Any safety regulation, like auto safety

  16. Redistributive policies • Taking from one group, and giving to another • “Intended to manipulate the allocation of wealth, property, personal or civil rights, or some other valued item among social classes or racial groups.” • Not just from the rich to the poor! • Extremely contentious • Winners and losers • Zero sum games • Some people treat values as limited resources. Examples?

  17. Actors, Stability, and Visibility of Policy Types

  18. Influence of Key Actors

  19. Shortcomings of Lowi’s typology • Categories are not mutually exclusive • Assignment to categories is difficult • Forcing into boxes

  20. Simplification: Concentrated and Diffuse Costs and Benefits

  21. How does this relate to Lowi’s typology?

  22. How is this different from Lowi’s typology? • Focus is on costs and benefits only, not on the intent of policy • The two dimensions are continual, not dichotomous

  23. What does this mean to you? • How you frame a policy is really important. • You can show that • Everyone will benefit, but few will pay • Everyone will benefit, but everyone pays a lot • Those who pay deserve to pay • If interest group liberalism is really true, what is your goal as a group? • Keep conflict quiet • Venue shopping • You should choose what sort of broad policy tool you would use to achieve your goals. • Why: Avoid conflict. Conflict raises issues on agendas.

  24. Other Policy Typologies • Substantive and Procedural Policies • Material and Symbolic Policies • Public versus Private Goods • Liberal and Conservative Policies • Think about how people make arguments about these policy types

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