AP GOV CH 15 Flashcards
Affordable Care Act
A 2010 law designed to ensure that nearly all Americans would have access to health care coverage, including those living in poverty.
Public Policy
An intentional course of action or inaction followed by government in dealing with some problem or matter of concern.
Distributive Policies
Public policies that provide benefits to individuals, groups, communities, or corporations.
Regulatory Policies
Public policies that limit the activities of individuals and corporations or prohibit certain types of unacceptable behavior.
Redistributive Policies
Public policies that transfer resources from one group to assist another group.
Systematic Agenda
A set of issues to be discussed or given attention; it consists of all public issues viewed as requiring governmental attention.
Governmental (institutional) Agenda
Problems to which public officials feel obliged to devote active and serious attention.
Agenda Setting
The process of forming the list of issues to be addressed by government.
Policy Formulation
The crafting of proposed courses of action t resolve public problems.
Policy Adoption
The approval of a policy proposal by people with the requisite authority, such as a legislature.
Policy Implementation
The process of carrying out public policy.
Policy Evaluation
The process of determining whether a course of action is achieving its intended goals.
Fiscal Policy
The deliberate use of the national government’s taxing and spending policies to maintain economic stability.
National Debt
The total amount owed by the federal government to its creditors, both domestic and international.
Laissez-faire
Economic philosophy that endorses a very limited role for government in the economy.
Recession
A decline in the economy that occurs as investment sags, production falls off, and unemployment tincreases.
Depression
A severe and long lasting decline in the economy that occurs as investment sags, production falls off, and unemployment increases.
Keynesian Economics
An economic approach first championed by economist John Maynard Kaynes in the 1930s, who maintained that spending by government can stimulate economic growth much faster than a free market could on its own.
Inflation
A rise in the general price levels of goods and services within an economy.
Budget Deficit
The economic condition that occurs when expenditures exceed revenues.
Gross Domestic Product
The total market value of all goods and services produced in a country during a year.
Monetary Policy
A form of government regulation in which the nation’s money supply and interest rates are controlled.
Federal Reserve System
The organization in the United States tasked with such responsibilities as managing the money supply, stabilizing prices, moderating interest rates, and reducing unemployment.
Board of Governors
In the Federal Reserve System, a seven-member board that makes most economic decisions regarding interest rates and the supply of money; it is led by the Federal Reserve chair.
