American Public Policy : Promise and Performance

by Peters, B. Guy

• ISBN13: 9781566430678
• ISBN10: 1566430674
• Edition: 5th
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1999-01-01
• Publisher: Seven Bridges Pr Llc

Summary

Chatham House's best-selling introductory text is fully updated to reflect recent developments in public policy from the late 1990s. Peters provides insights into the policymaking process from agenda setting to evaluation, and he examines substantive policy areas such as health care, economics and taxes, education, and energy and the environment.

Author Biography

B. Guy Peters is the Maurice Falk Professor of American Government at the University of Pittsburgh

Table of Contents

Tables and Figures	p. xi
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. 12
The Effects of Tools	p. 12
The Environment of Public Policy	p. 14
Conservatism	p. 14
Participation	p. 15
Pragmatism	p. 16
Wealth	p. 17
Diversity	p. 18
World Leadership	p. 19
Summary	p. 20
The Structure of Policymaking in American Government	p. 21
Federalism	p. 22
Separation of Powers	p. 27
Subgovernments	p. 30
Public and Private	p. 35
The Size and Shape of the Public Sector	p. 38
Summary	p. 42
The Making of Public Policy
Agenda Setting and Public Policy	p. 47
Agenda Setting	p. 47
Kinds of Agendas	p. 50
Who Sets Agendas?	p. 51
Pluralist Approaches	p. 52
Elitist Approaches	p. 53
State-Centric Approaches	p. 54
From Problem to Issue: How to Get Problems on the Agenda	p. 55
The Effects of the Problem	p. 55
Analogous and Spillover Agenda Setting	p. 57
Relationship to Symbols	p. 58
The Absence of Private Means	p. 59
The Availability of Technology	p. 61
Policy Formulation	p. 62
Who Formulates Policy?	p. 63
How to Formulate Policy	p. 67
Aids for Policy Formulation	p. 70
Policy Design	p. 72
Summary	p. 74
Legitimating Policy Choices	p. 75
Legislative Legitimation	p. 79
Oversight	p. 83
Regulations and the Administrative Process	p. 84
Public Access to the Regulatory Process	p. 86
The Processes of Writing Regulations	p. 86
The Courts	p. 90
Popular Legitimation	p. 91
Summary	p. 94
Organizations and Implementation	p. 96
Dramatis Personae	p. 97
Implementation	p. 105
The Legislation	p. 105
Policy Issues	p. 105
Political Setting	p. 107
Interest-group Liberalism	p. 109
The Organizational Setting	p. 110
Organizational Disunity	p. 110
Standard Operating Procedures	p. 112
Organizational Communication	p. 115
Time Problems	p. 117
Horseshoe-Nail Problems and Public Planning	p. 118
Interorganizational Politics	p. 119
Vertical Implementation Structures	p. 120
Horizontal Implementation Structures	p. 122
From the Bottom Up?	p. 124
The Third Generation?	p. 125
Summary	p. 125
Budgeting: Allocation and Public Policy	p. 127
Characteristics of the Federal Budget	p. 128
An Executive Budget	p. 128
Line Item	p. 129
An Annual Budget	p. 130
The Budget Cycle	p. 130
Setting the Parameters: The President and His Friends	p. 131
Agency Requests	p. 134
Executive Review	p. 135
Congressional Action	p. 136
Budget Execution	p. 138
Budget Control	p. 139
Summary	p. 140
Problems in the Budgetary Process	p. 140
The Deficit	p. 141
Uncontrollable Expenditures	p. 142
Back-Door Spending	p. 144
The Overhang	p. 145
Intergovernmental Budget Control	p. 145
Reprogramming and Transfers	p. 147
Supplemental Appropriations	p. 148
Accessing the Outcomes: Incrementalism or What?	p. 149
Critiques of Incrementalism	p. 151
Reforming Budgeting	p. 152
Program Budgeting	p. 153
Zero-Base Budgeting	p. 156
From Scalpels to Axes: Budget Reform in the 1980s and 1990s	p. 158
Gramm-Rudman-Hollings	p. 159
The Balanced-Budget Amendment	p. 161
The Line-Item Veto	p. 162
Decrementalism	p. 163
Is Budget Change Its Own Reward?	p. 165
Evaluation and Policy Change	p. 167
Problems in Evaluating Public Programs	p. 168
Goal Specification and Goal Change	p. 168
Measurement	p. 171
Targets	p. 175
Efficiency and Effectiveness	p. 177
Values and Evaluation	p. 178
Politics	p. 179
Increasing Requirements for Evaluation	p. 179
Summary	p. 180
Policy Change	p. 181
Summary	p. 188
Substantive Policy Issues
Economic Policy	p. 191
The Goals of Economic Policy	p. 193
Economic Growth	p. 194
Full Employment	p. 196
Stable Prices	p. 198
A Positive Balance of Payments	p. 200
Structural Change	p. 202
The Instruments of Economic Policy	p. 204
Fiscal Policy	p. 205
Monetary Policy	p. 211
Regulations and Control	p. 214
Public Support for Business	p. 216
Public Ownership	p. 219
Incentives	p. 220
Moral Suasion	p. 221
Summary	p. 221
Tax Policy	p. 223
Public Opinion and Taxation	p. 227
Fairness	p. 228
Value for Money	p. 229
Choices in Tax Policy	p. 232
Collectibility	p. 232
Fiscal Neutrality	p. 233
Buoyancy	p. 233
Distributive Effects	p. 234
Visibility	p. 235
The Politics of Tax Reform	p. 236
Tax Reform in the 1990s and Beyond	p. 238
Tax Reform in the Bush Administration	p. 240
Proposals for Further Fundamental Reform	p. 242
Conclusion	p. 245
Health Care Policies	p. 246
Problems in Health Care	p. 250
Access to Medical Care	p. 251
Cost	p. 256
Quality	p. 260
Public Programs in Health Care	p. 263
Medicare	p. 263
Medicaid	p. 266
Health Maintenance Organizations: Managing Managed Care	p. 268
Health Care Regulation	p. 270
Hospital Costs	p. 270
Health Care Quality	p. 271
Drug Regulation	p. 273
Summary	p. 275
The Pursuit of National Health Insurance	p. 276
"Play or Pay"	p. 278
Canadian-Style Comprehensive Coverage	p. 278
The George H. W. Bush Administration	p. 279
The Clinton Administration Plan and Its Alternatives	p. 280
Summary	p. 282
Conclusion	p. 284
Income Maintenance: Social Security and Welfare	p. 286
Social Insurance	p. 288
Problems in Social Security	p. 292
Social Security and the Economy	p. 297
Financing Social Security	p. 297
Reforming Social Security	p. 300
Radical Reforms	p. 302
Summary	p. 304
Means-Tested Programs	p. 304
AFDC and PRWORA: From Welfare to Workfare	p. 305
The Family Support Act	p. 308
The 1996 Reforms	p. 309
Implementing Workfare	p. 312
Alternatives for Further Reform of Income Support	p. 313
The War on Poverty	p. 316
Other Means-Tested Programs	p. 319
The Persistence of Poverty in the United States	p. 320
The Homeless	p. 321
Private Social Programs	p. 323
Summary	p. 324
Educational Policy	p. 326
Background	p. 327
The Federal Government's Role in Education	p. 330
The George H. W. Bush Administration	p. 331
The Clinton Administration	p. 332
Local Financing and the Federal Role	p. 333
Higher Education	p. 334
Funding for Higher Education	p. 336
Elementary and Secondary Education	p. 337
Issues of Educational Policy	p. 341
Quality of Education	p. 342
Vouchers and "Choice"	p. 343
Competency Testing	p. 347
Testing Teacher Competence	p. 348
School Facilities	p. 349
The Separation of Church and State	p. 350
Unionization and Management	p. 352
Equalization of Resources	p. 353
Desegregation and Busing	p. 355
Higher Education Costs	p. 357
Summary	p. 358
Energy and the Environment	p. 359
Energy: Problems and Policies	p. 360
Energy Sources	p. 361
Natural Gas	p. 362
Coal	p. 363
Nuclear Power	p. 364
Other Energy Sources in Use	p. 366
Unconventional Energy Source	p. 366
Policy Options	p. 368
The States and Energy Policy	p. 371
Hard and Soft Energy Options	p. 372
Environmental Policies	p. 373
The Politics of Pollution	p. 374
The Legislation	p. 378
Toxic Waste	p. 384
Endangered Species Act	p. 387
Implementation of Environmental Controls	p. 387
Alternatives to Regulation	p. 390
Protective Policies: Defense and Law Enforcement	p. 393
Defense Policy	p. 394
The Environment of Defense Policy	p. 395
Technology	p. 399
Public Opinion	p. 400
U.S. Force Configurations	p. 401
Problems of Defense Policy	p. 403
Military Procurement	p. 403
Updating the Strategic Deterrent	p. 406
The All-Volunteer Military	p. 407
Other Personnel Issues	p. 409
Conventional Forces and Strategies	p. 410
Defense and/or Jobs	p. 412
Law Enforcement	p. 414
Federal Law Enforcement	p. 414
Federal Support to State and Local Governments	p. 417
Issues in Law Enforcement Policy	p. 418
The Causes of Crime	p. 418
Gun Control	p. 419
The Death Penalty	p. 420
The Rights of the Accused	p. 422
Youth Crime	p. 423
The Clinton Crime Bill	p. 424
Conclusion	p. 426
Culture Wars in American Politics: Regulating Social Life	p. 427
Abortion and Reproductive Rights	p. 430
The Rhetoric of Abortion Politics	p. 431
Political and Policy Reactions to Roe and Doe	p. 432
Gay Rights: Politics Comes out of the Closet	p. 435
Gay Rights and Public Policy	p. 436
The Separation of Church and State: School Prayer and Other Issues	p. 439
Summary	p. 443
Policy Analysis
Cost-Benefit Analysis	p. 447
Principles of Cost-Benefit Analysis	p. 448
Doing Cost-Benefit Analysis	p. 450
Determining Costs and Benefits	p. 451
Assigning Value	p. 452
Discounting	p. 455
Choosing among Projects	p. 458
Extensions	p. 460
Criticism and Modification	p. 460
Ethical Analysis of Public Policy	p. 462
Fundamental Value Premises	p. 463
The Preservation of Life	p. 463
The Preservation of Individual Autonomy	p. 468
Lying	p. 470
Fairness	p. 473
The Concept of Desert	p. 476
Ethics and Public Policy: Alternatives to Utilitarianism	p. 478
Endnotes	p. 479
Index	p. 539
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