THE OUTPUTS & OUTCOMES OF THE POLITICAL SYSTEM

Nature of Public Policy

Outputs: authoritative decisions that government makes

Outcomes Policies or outputs are chosen to promote

different end results End results are outcomes Different policy instruments may be more or less

efficient ways in which to reach the outcomes that policy makers want

Functions of the Political System

Relationships among Relationships among Hurricane Tracking - responds to the demand

for safety

Hurricane Tracking - responds to the demand

for safety Political demands Outputs of process

functions Outcomes of policy

implementation

POLITICAL RESPONSIVENESS

Public Policies

Public policies may be summarized and compared according to outputs classified into four headings: Distribution Extraction Regulation Symbolic outputs

From the Night Watchman State to the Welfare State

Night Watchman State: a Lockean state, which primarily sought to regulate just enough to preserve law, order, a good business climate, and the basic security of its citizens

Police State: regulates much more intrusively and extracts resources more severely than the night watchman state

Regulatory State: evolved in all advanced industrial societies as they face the complexities of modern life

Welfare State: found particularly in more prosperous and democratic societies, distributes resources extensively to provide for the health, education, employment, housing, and income support of its citizens

Welfare State

First modern welfare state programs introduced in Germany in the 1880s Bismarck: social insurance programs that protected workers

1930s to 1970s most industrialized states have adopted and expanded welfare policies

1980s and 1990s the welfare states in advanced capitalist countries continued to grow albeit at a somewhat slower rate

Mixture between social insurance and social redistribution In part paternalistic and in part Robin Hood

Challenges to the Welfare State

Ability of future generations to pay Growth of senior citizens/dependency ratios

Some welfare states give citizens few incentives to work. Norway and Sweden

Chesapeake Tunnel Bridge Chesapeake Tunnel Bridge Quantity

Available resources usually depend of domestic extractive capability

Areas of human life touched by benefits Welfare Infrastructure National security

Welfare state as a distributive ideology

Public Policies: Distribution

Extractive Policy

Services (military duty,jury duty)

Taxation (extractions that have no immediate or direct benefit)

Borrowing Issues of efficiency and

equity are always associated with making and implementing extractive rules

Extraction: Services

Compulsory military service

Jury duty Compulsory labor imposed

on those convicted of a crime

Extraction: Economic

Direct extraction of services Compulsory military service, jury duty, or compulsory labor

imposed on those convicted of crime Direct resource extraction

Taxation Direct taxes Indirect taxes

Progressive tax structure Regressive tax structure

The tax profiles of different countries vary both in their overall tax burdens and in their reliance on different types of taxes.

Differ in how they collect their revenues

Regulative Policy – Use of Compulsion

Coercion Protect property rights Crime prevention/fighting

Material of financial inducements Mortgage write-off Environment

Protection of civil liberties/rights

Symbolic Policy - used by government to exhort citizens to desired forms of conduct

Appeals to values Comply with the law more faithfully Accept hardship, sacrifice, danger

Employs symbols Holiday parades Public buildings Patriotic indoctrination

Enhances aspects of system’s performance

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

Domestic Security Outcomes

Crime rates have been on the increase in many advanced industrial societies until recently as well as the developing world. Russia, Brazil and Mexico- high rates of crimes England, France (has had an increase), and Germany have a small fraction

of the U.S.’s crime numbers China has low murder rates; Japan even lower.

Much crime found in urban areas. Causes are complex. Migration increases diversity and conflict. Pace of urbanization explosive; severe problems of poverty and

infrastructure Inequality of income and wealth, unemployment, drug abuse, hopelessness

of big city life Crime rates have come down in the U.S.

Stronger economy; increased incarceration time; decrease in youth

Warfare Warfare TerrorismTerrorism

International Outputs and Outcomes

International Outputs and Outcomes

Increased assistance to poor countries

Domestic populations accept the costs of pursuing international policies when they perceive a direct threat to their national security

Political Goods and Values

If we are to compare and evaluate public policy in different political systems, we need to consider the political goods that motivate different policies. System goods: Citizens are most free and most able to act

purposefully when their environment is stable, transparent, and predictable.

Process goods: citizen participation and free political participation; democratic procedures and various rights of due process

Policy goods: economic welfare, quality of life, freedom and personal security

Final Thoughts

-- if the political goods being produced fail to live up to expectations the government will lose support

-- if this condition persists over a long period the political regime will lose legitimacy