PPolNotesRightsLowiHlth

Public Policy

Policy Makers in Public Policy

Administrative Items for Class

Analysis Due On Thursday -

THE PUBLIC POLICY TOOLKIT

Definitions - What is public policy?
Contexts - What information is needed when making policy?
Models - What are specific ways to analyze policy making?
Federalism - Recognizing Levels of Gov't & Tools Used
Variables - Cause (IND) and Effect (DEP)
Process - Stages of Public Policy
Data Analysis - Decision Trees, Cognitive Maps
The Lowi Types and THE POLICYMAKERS

POLICY ACTORS

SUB-GOVERNMENTS

Applying Policy Maker information to Policy areas.
And applications related to our rights and liberties discussions.

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POLICY ACTORS

OFFICIAL

Primary and Supplementary

UNOFFICIAL

SUBGOVERNMENTS (Nuclear)

ISSUE NETWORKS or I.Ts

LOWI's Policy Types:

Regulatory
Self-Regulatory
Distributive
Redistributive

Iron Triangles and Issue Networks

OLD - Iron Triangles http://www.opensecrets.org/

http://www.auburn.edu/~johnspm/gloss/index.html?

Iron Triangles. Congress may choose not to actively pursue its oversight role The reason is that very strong, interdependent relationships may develop between the congressional committee members, lobbyists, and bureaucrats.

Issue Networks. Much larger and more complex than iron triangles, issue networks are composed of multiple policy actors that interact regularly on a particular issue.

NEW - Issue Networks mix of IT + more public private groups sharing interest, expertise, common interests

HUGH HECLO - The "intellectual father" of Issue Networks, which are "shared knowledge groups."

IN FAVOR - greater representation of interests; policymakers forced to confront more issues (problems that have been identified) and consider whether these issues are worthy of setting them on their agenda...

Critics argue that existence and power of interest groups pose significant political problems

unequal representation

those needing help most are least represented

improper ethics

influence peddling

Issue - Does the support among interest groups for each other’s entitlement agendas endanger national long-term economic well-being? First - what's an entitlement agenda and then - the question.....

HEALTH AND WELFARE POLICY

Elite and Rational Actor Modeling in Action

ARE GOOD HEALTH AND A REASONABLE QUALITY OF LIFE A RIGHT or a PRIVILEGE IN AMERICA?

He alth Data-Healthlinks

WELFARE POLICY

History

Private

Public-Hybrid

PRIV-BRID Health Care system in America and Welfare System in America

Policies

Medicaid
Medicare
SSI - OASDi - FICA - 10:1 ...... 3:1....2:1
Social Security - Brief History - Trust Fund
Elderly Politics - AARP
Unemployment
Cash and Services - fighting Moynihan's The Culture of Poverty

Poverty in America

Who are the Poor?
Feminization of Poverty and Child Poverty
Complexities in Data
What do the poor need - Resources or Opportunities?

The "culture of poverty," an argument first advanced in the modern American context by political scientist Edward Banfield in a 1970 book.

Banfield split the poor into two groups.

1. Some simply lacked money. These included many disabled and unemployed people, and some single mothers who had been widowed, divorced or abandoned. These people had middle-class values and could benefit from government income support. They could usually recover from a setback (job loss, divorce).

2. Then there was the true "lower class," who would "live in squalor . . . even if their incomes were doubled," Banfield wrote, because they had a "radically present-oriented" outlook that "attaches no value to work, sacrifice, self-improvement, or service to family, friends or community."

The dilemma is to maintain an adequate safety net,

without being so generous as to create more dependency.

Reform

1996 – FEDERALISM WRIT LARGE!

Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA)

Although PRWORA has expired, Congress has continued to fund the program until a new bill is enacted.

To continue to receive federal benefits, TANF recipients must work or look for work. Some individual state programs emphasized this shift with names for the program such as "Wisconsin Works" or "WorkFirst". Since the Act, enormous numbers of the poor have left or been terminated from the program, with most states' caseloads dropping by 50% over the first few years. Since there is less training and education available than with the earlier JOBS program, these "last hired, first fired" recipients have been returning to welfare and the caseloads have been increasing.

HUGE BLOCK GRANT to all states - a fundamental re-shifting of wealth - what Lowi Policy Type???

http://www.politicsandgovernment.ilstu.edu/downloads/icsps_papers/2006/Hutcheson2006.pdf

And an ideological debate...

http://www.ers.usda.gov/Publications/CCR15/ccr15c.pdf

OR ...

The people in the culture of poverty have a strong feeling of marginality, of helplessness, of dependency, of not belonging. They are like aliens in their own country, convinced that the existing institutions do not serve their interests and needs. Along with this feeling of powerlessness is a widespread feeling of inferiority, of personal unworthiness.

Now add in Health Issues and Gov't Health Assistance Programs...

Evaluating Health Care

HOW DOES A NATION EVALUATE GOOD HEALTH CARE?

FIND A HEALTH POLICY ACTOR'S WEB SITE...