Keywords Flashcards
public problem
Def: conditions/ behaviors that 1) negatively affect many people and 2) require collective action. Problem & solution are contested & ambiguous.
Ex: basically any policy
Significance: problem definition
administrative burdens
Def: - the intentional/unintentional frictions people face in encounters w/ public services:
- leads to meaningful learning, compliance, and/or psychological costs
- burdens some more than others
- includes consequences for access to services & policy efficacy
Ex:
Significance: problem definition
learning costs
Def: - costs incurred as part of administrative burden
- related to search processes to collect information about public services and how they are relevant to the individual
Ex:
Significance:
compliance costs
Def: - costs incurred as part of administrative burden
-** relating to time and effort needed **to follow administrative rules and requirements
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Significance:
psychological costs
Def:
Ex:
Significance:
“deserving poor”
Def:
Ex:
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entitlement program
Def: gov programs that provide monetary or other benefits
to all those who meet eligibility requirements
they dont run out
Money grows w/ number of people
Entitlement vs universal program (entitlement programs are defined by the existence of an eligibility criterion, while universal programs are created with the intention of eliminating incentives to change behavior)
Ex:
Significance:
means-tested program
Def:
Ex:
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universal program
Def: can participate in universal social welfare programs (e.g., Social Security, Medicare) regardless of income and/or wealth.
-May have other eligibility requirements (e.g., age). — Universal programs eliminate any incentives to change behavior (e.g., reduce hours worked) in order to gain eligibility; serving more people makes any given benefit more expensive.
Ex: Medicare (not medicaid) -
Significance:
racism (structural / systemic)
Def:
Ex:
Significance:
randomized controlled trial (RCT)
Def:
- An experimental way to provide access to a treatment or policy intervention.
- A random mechanism (such as a lottery) is used to determine who from an eligible population will receive the treatment and who will not.
- RCT’s allow for causal inference when conducted correctly.
Ex:
Significance:
accountability
Def:
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compliance
Def:
Ex:
Significance:
causal inference
Def:
- control and experimental groups are approx same prior to assignment to treatment
- cause and effect
- especially w/ RCT
Ex:
Significance: evaluation
human capital
Def: “the knowledge, skills, and health that people invest in and accumulate throughout their lives.” (Source: World Bank) With no government role, people would underinvest in human capital for themselves and their children due to credit constraints and imperfect information. Human capital generates returns that are private (personal) and public (spillovers or “externalities”). Parents/guardians “invest” on behalf of children; government may intervene paternalistically to improve private returns. Public returns to human capital include supporting democracy, economic growth, social mobility, and intergenerational returns.
People typically are mainly concerned with how it benefits them on an individual level
Gov intervening incentives people to invest in it
Ex:
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federalism
Def: a system of government in which the same territory is controlled by more than one level of government.
- Generally, an overarching national (in the US, federal) government is responsible for broader governance of larger territorial areas, while the smaller subdivisions, states and cities govern the issues of local concern.
- Different levels of government have different legal rights and responsibilities that determine their ability to make policy and finance, deliver, and regulate public services.
Ex:
Significance: policy formulation
policy “window”
Def:
Ex:
Significance: policy formulation/adoption,
stakeholders
Def:
Ex: Sin Taxes in the Philippines,
Significance:
(political) framing
Def:
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path dependence
Def:
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moral hazard
Def:
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Samaritan’s dilemma
Def:
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street-level bureaucrats
Def: public service workers who interact directly with the public as part of their job and have significant discretion in how they apply and enforce public policies. Their decisions about how to carry out their jobs help shape what public policies look like in practice vs. theory.
Ex:
Significance:
“know-do” gap
Def: the gap between what we know from research and what we actually do
implmentation failure
Ex:
Significance: implmentation
