American Public Policy: Promise and Performance

by B Guy Peters

• ISBN13: 9781452218717
• ISBN10: 1452218714
• Edition: 9th
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2012-10-16
• Publisher: CQ PRESS

Summary

Voting and elections may often be cited as the most entertaining aspect of political theatre, however, it is the arena of public policy that has the most direct impact on the lives of the citizenry. And as we have seen played out in recent debates over healthcare reform, policy changes can be dramatic, sweeping, and often hotly contested. Known for providing a trusted and comprehensive overview of the policy process, B. Guy Peters returns with the ninth edition of American Public Policy: Promise and Performance. Beyond walking students through the governmental structures and policy-making procedures, Peters efficiently covers a wide swath of policy areas, and then concludes with a look at both cost-benefit analysis and ethical analysis. Framed in context of the aftermath of the financial crisis and Great Recession, the ninth edition considers how policy has been impacted by persistent unemployment and growing income inequality. In addition, Peters discusses the strain on education budgets, increased oversight of financial activities, fiscal policies meant to stimulate the economy, and the political challenge of balancing the budget in light of increased public spending.

Author Biography

B. Guy Peters is Maurice Falk Professor of American Government at the University of Pittsburgh. He is also professor of Comparative Governance at Zeppelin University in Germany. He is currently coeditor of the European Political Science Review and on the editorial boards of a number of other journals. His recent publications include Institutional Theory in Political Science, third edition and Interactive Governance: Advancing the Paradigm, with Jacob Torfing, Jon Pierre, and Eva Sorensen.

Table of Contents

Tables and Figures	p. xiii
Preface	p. xv
The Nature of Public Policy
What Is Public Policy?	p. 3
Defining Public Policy	p. 4
The Instruments of Public Policy	p. 6
Law	p. 7
Services	p. 8
Money	p. 9
Taxes	p. 10
Other Economic Instruments	p. 11
Suasion	p. 11
The Effects of Tools	p. 13
The Environment of Public Policy	p. 13
Conservatism	p. 14
Participation	p. 15
Pragmatism	p. 17
Wealth	p. 19
Diversity	p. 20
World Leadership	p. 21
Summary	p. 21
The Structure of Policymaking in American Government	p. 23
Federalism	p. 24
Separation of Powers	p. 29
Subgovernments	p. 31
Public and Private	p. 38
The Size and Shape of the Public Sector	p. 40
Summary	p. 44
Explaining Policy Choices	p. 47
Power and Public Policy	p. 47
The Policy Process-The Stages Model	p. 48
Institutional Models of Policy	p. 50
Advocacy-Coalition Framework	p. 52
Policy Causes Politics	p. 53
Policy Styles	p. 54
Policy Instruments	p. 55
Bounded Rationality, Multiple Streams, and Incrementalism	p. 56
The Private Sector, Iron Triangles, and Networks	p. 58
Optimal Decision Making	p. 59
Constructivist Models	p. 60
Summary	p. 62
The Making of Public Policy
Agenda Setting and Public Policy	p. 65
Agenda Setting	p. 65
Kinds of Agendas	p. 68
Who Sets Agendas?	p. 70
Pluralist Approaches	p. 70
Elitist Approaches	p. 71
State-Centric Approaches	p. 72
From Problem to Issue: How to Get Problems on the Agenda	p. 75
The Effects of the Problem	p. 75
Analogous and Spillover Agenda Setting	p. 76
Relationship to Symbols	p. 77
The Absence of Private Means	p. 78
The Availability of Technology	p. 79
Policy Formulation	p. 81
Who Formulates Policy?	p. 82
How to Formulate Policy	p. 87
Aids for Policy Formulation	p. 89
Policy Design	p. 92
Summary	p. 93
Legitimating Policy Choices	p. 95
Legislative Legitimation	p. 99
Regulations and the Administrative Process	p. 104
Public Access to the Regulatory Process	p. 106
The Processes of Writing Regulations	p. 107
The Courts	p. 111
Popular Legitimation	p. 113
Summary	p. 114
Organizations and Implementation	p. 117
Dramatis Personae	p. 118
Implementation	p. 125
The Legislation	p. 126
Policy Issues	p. 126
Political Setting	p. 128
Interest Group Liberalism	p. 130
The Organizational Setting	p. 130
Organizational Disunity	p. 131
Standard Operating Procedures	p. 132
Organizational Communication	p. 134
Time Problems	p. 136
Horseshoe-Nail Problems and Public Planning	p. 137
Interorganizational Politics	p. 138
Vertical Implementation Structures	p. 140
Horizontal Implementation Structures	p. 141
From the Bottom Up?	p. 143
The Third Generation?	p. 144
Summary	p. 144
Budgeting: Allocation and Public Policy	p. 147
Characteristics of the Federal Budget	p. 148
An Executive Budget	p. 148
The Line Item	p. 149
An Annual Budget	p. 150
The Budget Cycle	p. 150
Setting the Parameters: The President and His Friends	p. 151
Agency Requests	p. 153
Executive Review	p. 154
Congressional Action	p. 156
Budget Execution	p. 158
Budget Control	p. 160
Problems in the Budget Process	p. 160
The Deficit	p. 161
Uncontrollable Expenditures	p. 163
Backdoor Spending	p. 164
The Overhang	p. 166
Intergovernmental Budget Control	p. 167
Reprogramming and Transfers	p. 167
The Defense Budget	p. 168
Supplemental Appropriations	p. 169
Earmarks	p. 170
Assessing the Outcomes: Incrementalism or What?	p. 170
Critiques of Incrementalism	p. 172
Reforming Budgeting: Large-Scale Approaches in the 1960s and 1970s	p. 174
Program Budgeting	p. 174
Zero-Base Budgeting	p. 177
From Scalpels to Axes: Budget Reform from the 1980s to the 2000s	p. 179
Gramm-Rudman-Hollings	p. 180
The Balanced Budget Amendment	p. 182
The Line-Item Veto	p. 183
Decrementalism	p. 185
Summary	p. 186
Evaluation and Policy Change	p. 189
Problems in Evaluating Public Programs	p. 189
Goal Specification and Goal Change	p. 190
Measurement	p. 192
Targets	p. 197
Efficiency and Effectiveness	p. 199
Values and Evaluation	p. 200
Politics	p. 200
Increasing Requirements for Evaluation	p. 201
Summary	p. 202
Policy Change	p. 203
Summary	p. 208
Substantive Policy Issues
Economic Policy	p. 213
Background	p. 213
The Goals of Economic Policy	p. 214
Economic Growth	p. 215
Full Employment	p. 217
Stable Prices	p. 221
A Positive Balance of Payments	p. 222
Structural Change	p. 225
The Instruments of Economic Policy	p. 226
Fiscal Policy	p. 227
Monetary Policy	p. 233
Regulations and Control	p. 236
Public Support for Business	p. 239
Public Ownership	p. 242
Public Support for Labor	p. 243
Incentives	p. 244
Moral Suasion	p. 245
Summary	p. 245
Tax Policy	p. 247
Background	p. 247
Public Opinion and Taxation	p. 253
Fairness	p. 253
Value for Money	p. 256
Choices in Tax Policy	p. 259
Collectibility	p. 259
Fiscal Neutrality	p. 260
Buoyancy	p. 261
Distributive Effects	p. 262
Visibility	p. 263
The Politics of Tax Reform	p. 264
The Tax Reform Act of 1986	p. 265
Tax Reform in the 1990s	p. 265
Tax Reform in the George W. Bush Administration	p. 267
Tax Reform in the Obama Administration	p. 268
Proposals for Further Fundamental Tax Reform	p. 268
Summary	p. 271
Health Care Policies	p. 273
Problems in Health Care	p. 277
Access to Medical Care	p. 278
Cost	p. 283
Quality	p. 288
The Affordable Care Act of 2010	p. 290
Public Programs in Health Care	p. 292
Medicare	p. 292
Medicaid	p. 295
Health Maintenance Organizations: Managing Managed Care	p. 297
Health Care Regulation	p. 299
Hospital and Physician Costs	p. 299
Health Care Quality	p. 300
Drug Regulation	p. 301
The Pursuit of National Health Insurance	p. 304
"Play or Pay"	p. 305
Canadian-Style Comprehensive Coverage	p. 305
Past Attempts at National Health Care Reform	p. 306
Summary	p. 309
Income Maintenance: Social Security and Welfare	p. 311
Social Insurance	p. 313
Problems in Social Security	p. 317
Social Security and the Economy	p. 321
Financing Social Security	p. 322
Reforming Social Security	p. 324
Means-Tested Programs	p. 327
AFDC and the Origins of Welfare	p. 328
The Family Support Act	p. 330
The 1996 Reforms and PRWORA	p. 331
Implementing Workfare	p. 334
Alternatives for Further Reform of Income Support	p. 335
The War on Poverty	p. 339
Other Means-Tested Programs	p. 340
The Persistence of Poverty in the United States	p. 340
The Homeless	p. 343
Private Social Programs	p. 344
Summary	p. 345
Education Policy	p. 347
The Federal Government's Role in Education	p. 351
Local Financing and the Federal Role	p. 353
Higher Education	p. 355
Elementary and Secondary Education	p. 358
Issues of Education Policy	p. 362
Quality of Education	p. 362
Vouchers and Choice	p. 364
Competency Testing	p. 367
Testing Teacher Competence	p. 369
School Facilities	p. 369
The Separation of Church and State	p. 370
Unionization and Management	p. 370
Equalization of Resources	p. 372
Desegregation and Busing	p. 373
Higher Education Costs	p. 376
Summary	p. 377
Energy and the Environment	p. 379
Background	p. 379
Energy Sources	p. 381
Oil	p. 381
Natural Gas	p. 383
Coal	p. 383
Nuclear Power	p. 384
Alternative and Renewable Energy Sources	p. 386
The Formation of Energy Policy	p. 390
Federal Energy Policy	p. 390
The States and Energy Policy	p. 392
Environmental Policies	p. 393
The Politics of Pollution	p. 394
Environmental Legislation	p. 398
Implementation of Environmental Controls	p. 407
Alternatives to Regulation	p. 109
Summary	p. 410
Protective Policies: Defense and Law Enforcement	p. 413
Background	p. 413
Defense Policy	p. 414
The Environment of Defense Policy	p. 416
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