Chapter 17Chapter 17

The Policy-Making ProcessThe Policy-Making Process

Setting the AgendaSetting the Agenda

A. Political Agenda: Issues that people believe require government action

B. Certain shared beliefs determine what is legitimate (proper, right) for the government to do. This legitimacy is affected by several forces:

1. Shared political values2. The weight of custom and tradition3. The impact of events4. Changes in the way political elites think and talk about

politics

The legitimate scope of The legitimate scope of government actiongovernment action

A. Beliefs about legitimacy has expanded because we now accept and or encourage “big government”

1. Events trigger government actiona. Garfield Assassinated

b. Great Depression

c. 9/11

d. The housing bubble bursts

The legitimate scope of The legitimate scope of government actiongovernment action

continuedcontinued

B. Also, it is the case that government grows and adds new issues to its agenda without a critical event or widespread public demand.

Examples

1.1966 automobile safety

2.Occupational Safety and Health Act 1970a. Why? Four Reasons:

Behavior of Groups Institutions Media Actions by the states

1. Behavior of Groups1. Behavior of Groups

A. Small/large groups of people, organized or unorganized, who demand government action

1. Organized labor demands

2. Black riots in American cities in the 1960s

3. The demands of these groups are awarded only if society allows

2. Institutions2. Institutions

A. The courts: courts have played a leading role in advocating unpopular causes.

1. 1954 when the Supreme Court ordered schools desegregated

2. School busing

B. The Bureaucracy: bureaucracy has begun to think up problems for government to solve rather than simply to respond to the problems identified by others

C. The Senate: has become one of the sources of political change rather than, as the Founders intended, a balance designed to moderate change

3. Media:3. Media:

A. can act as gatekeeper and encourage government to add issues to its agenda

4. Action by the States4. Action by the States

A. States merely take the lead and congress later passes law: “Do Not Call” law

B. Litigation that changes industry throughout the country -1998 tobacco companies raised prices and paid large sums of money to states and individuals

Making a Decision:Making a Decision:

Once an issue is on the political agenda, its nature affects the kind

of politicking that ensues.

Cost and BenefitCost and Benefit

A. Cost: any burden (monetary or non-monetary, real or perceived), that a group must bear, e.g.:

1. Federal child-care programs (taxes).2. Busing to achieve school desegregation (taxes,

psychological stress)3. Tariffs (higher prices for goods)

B. Benefit: any satisfaction (monetary or non-monetary, real or perceived) that a group will enjoy from a policy, e.g.,

1. Federal child-care programs (lower child care costs for parents).

2. Busing to achieve school desegregation (improvement in opportunity, greater racial harmony).

3. Tariffs (more jobs for workers, more profits for businesses).

Widely-distributed and Widely-distributed and Narrowly-concentratedNarrowly-concentrated

A. Costs and benefits can be either widely-distributed (to many, most, or all citizens) or narrowly-concentrated (for a relatively small number of citizens or groups). Examples:

1. Widely-distributed costs: income tax, social security tax, farm subsidies

2. Narrowly-concentrated costs: factory air emission standards, higher capital gains taxes for the wealthy, gun control regulations.

3. Narrowly-concentrated benefits: Farm subsidies, tariffs

4. Widely-distributed benefits: Social Security benefits, strong national security, clean air, federal highways, antitrust legislation.

Four types of policiesFour types of policies

Majoritarian, Interest Group, Majoritarian, Interest Group, Client, Entrepreneurial Client, Entrepreneurial

What do you think?What do you think?

I.I. http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=brad+pitt+nancy+pelosi+jimmy&hl=en&emb=0&aq=f#http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=brad+pitt+nancy+pelosi+jimmy&hl=en&emb=0&aq=f#

Majoritarian policiesMajoritarian policies

A. Involve widely distributed costs and widely distributed benefits.

B. Examples: Social Security, national defenseC. Analysis:

1. Usually not dominated by interest groups: virtually everyone benefits from these, so why should an interest group use scarce resources to lobby for policies that everyone will benefit from? Interest groups will benefit whether or not the devote resources to lobbyingLack of incentive to participate

2. When a policy is adopted and people are convinced that benefits are worth the cost, debate ends and the program tends to steadily grow, and perhaps even becomes a “sacred cow” that the government dare not touch (e.g. Social Security).

Interest group policiesInterest group policies

A. Involve narrowly concentrated costs and narrowly concentrated benefits.

B. Examples: tariffs, antitrust exemptions (Major League Baseball)

C. Analysis: these tend to be fought over by interest groups: the affected parties are small enough, and the potential costs and benefits are great enough, to warrant interest group participation.

Client policies Client policies

A. Involve widely distributed costs and narrowly concentrated benefits.

B. Examples: farm subsidies, airline or trucking regulation, pork barrel bills.

C. Analysis:1. Stong incentive for interest groups to participate.

Groups will receive the benefits, but the costs will be spread out to everyone.

2. Since costs are so widely distributed and therefore relatively small to each consumer, cost payers are sometimes unaware that they are even paying the costs (e.g., dairy subsidies)

3. Since interest groups benefit so much from these, they are said to be a “client” of the related federal agency—client groups.

Entrepreneurial policiesEntrepreneurial policies

A. Involve narrowly concentrated costs and widely distributed benefits.

B. Example: consumer product safety legislation, ending farm subsidies, deregulation.

C. Analysis:1. Strong incentive for potential cost-paying group to

participate.2. Prospective beneficiaries may find widely distributed

benefits too small to work hard for.3. Because of a and b, policies of this category are often

defeated by the concerted efforts of cost-paying interest groups.

4. Despite this, such policies are from time to time passed through the strong efforts of people who act on behalf of the unconcerned or unawarethese are called policy entrepreneurs (e.g., Ralph Nader)

The case of business regulationThe case of business regulation

The case of business The case of business regulationregulation

A. The question of wealth and power1. One view: economic power dominates

political powera. Wealth can buy political power

b. Politicians and business people with similar backgrounds and, thus, ideologies

c. Politicians must defer to business, to keep the economy healthy

2. Another view: political power is a threat to a market economy

3. Neither extreme correct

Majoritarian politicsMajoritarian politics

A. Antitrust legislation in 1890s1. Public indignation strong but unfocused2. Legislation vague; no specific enforcement agency3. Sherman Act (1890) did not define trade illegalities or

provide an enforcement agency4. Antitrust legislation strengthened in the twentieth

centurya. Presidents take initiative in encouraging enforcementb. Politicians, business leaders committed to firm antitrust

policy5. Federal Trade Commission created in 1914; Clayton

Act (1914) made certain practices illegal6. Enforcement determined primarily by ideology and

personal convic tions of the current presidential administration

Interest group politicsInterest group politicsA. Labor-management conflict

1. 1935: labor unions seek government protection for their rights; business firms in opposition

a. Unions win

2. Wagner Act creates National Labor Relations Board (NLRB)a. 1947: Taft-Hartley Act a victory for managementb. 1959: Landrum-Griffin Act another victory for management

3. Politics of the conflicta. Highly publicized struggleb. Winners and losers determined by partisan composition of

Congress

4. Economic conditions also affected outcomes5. After enactment of laws, conflict continues in NLRB and

courts

B. Similar pattern found in Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970

1. Reflects a labor victory with agency established2. Appeals again made by business to courts about

regulations

Client politicsClient politics

A. Agency capture likely when benefits focused and costs dispersed—agency created to serve a group’s needs

B. Licensing of attorneys, barbers, etc.1. Restricts entry into occupation or profession

a. Allows members to charge higher prices

2. People not generally opposeda. Believe regulations protect them

3. Costs are not obvious

C. Regulation of milk industry, sugar production, merchant shipping

1. Prevents price competition and keeps price up2. Public unaware of inflated prices

Entrepreneurial politics;Entrepreneurial politics;I.I. relies on entrepreneurs to galvanize relies on entrepreneurs to galvanize

public opinion, mobilize public opinion, mobilize congressional supportcongressional support

A. 1906: Pure Food and Drug Act protected consumer

B. 1960s and 1970s: large number of consumer and environmental protection statutes passed (e.g., Clean Air Act, Toxic Substance Control Act)

C. Policy entrepreneur usually associated with such measures (e.g., Ralph Nader)

1. Often assisted by crisis or scandal2. Debate becomes moralistic and extreme

Entrepreneurial Politics Entrepreneurial Politics continuedcontinued

A. Risk of such programs: agency may be captured by the regulated industry

1. Newer agencies less vulnerablea. Standards specific, timetables strict so relatively

little discretion

b. Usually regulate many different industries; thus do not face unified opposition

c. Their existence has strengthened public-interest lobbies that sought their creation

d. Public interest groups can use courts to bring pressure on regulatory agencies

Perceptions, beliefs, Perceptions, beliefs, interests, and valuesinterests, and values

Problem of definitionProblem of definition

1. Costs and benefits not completely defined in money terms

2. Cost or benefit a matter of perception

3. Political conflict largely a struggle to make one set of beliefs about costs and benefits prevail over another

Types of arguments usedTypes of arguments used

1. Here-and-now argument—people care more about the present than the distant future

2. Cost argument—people react more strongly to costs than to benefits

Role of valuesRole of values

1. Values: our conceptions of what is good for our community or our country

2. Emphasis on self-interest leads to neglecting the power of ideas