Midterm

Question 1

True/False: public policy problems are those problems where we as a public agree on the definition of the problem, and in most cases, the best solution

Answer 1

false

Question 2

True/False: Kingdon’s multiple streams model of agenda setting states that most independent streams of problems, policies, and politics sometimes come together to open a policy window that allows the issue onto the agendas

Answer 2

true

Question 3

True/False: iron triangles are a form of budgetary gimmick used to triangulate expenditures across multiple fiscal years

Answer 3

false

Question 4

True/False: Congress first establishes programs through authorization legislation and then funds them through appropriations legislation

Answer 4

true

Question 5

True/False: Max Weber argued that ideally bureaucrats should have to re-interview for their position at every change of administration

Answer 5

false

Question 6

True/False: a continuing resolution is used to temporarily keep an unconstitutional law or program in place until Congress can pass a replacement

Answer 6

false

Question 7

True/False: deferral and rescission are both types of budget impoundment

Answer 7

true

Question 8

True/False: a policy may be effective without being adequate

Answer 8

true

Question 9

True/False: tractability, a dimension of policy problems, describes how difficult it is to solve the problem

Answer 9

true

Question 10

True/False: while the president has line-item veto authority, the Tenth Amendment of the US Constitution denies it to the nation’s governors

Answer 10

false

Question 11

True/False: power is fundamental to all models of policymaking

Answer 11

true

Question 12

True/False: pork barrel spending deals entirely with agricultural subsidies

Answer 12

false

Question 13

True/False: systematic agenda refers to the matters that people are discussing and concerned about

Answer 13

true

Question 14

True/False: according to Heclo and others, public policy “subgovernments” are better described as issue or policy networks than as iron triangles

Answer 14

true

Question 15

True/False: pure public goods are characterized as non-exhaustible and non-excludable

Answer 15

true

Question 16

True/False: implementation refers to all of the actions that are done to carry law into effect, apply it to a target population and achieve its goals

Answer 16

true

Question 17

True/False: top-down implementation studies have supplanted bottom-up studies in most serious academic reviews

Answer 17

false

Question 18

True/False: bottom-up implementation studies focus primarily on the doers, who are also referred to by Lipsky as the street level bureaucrats

Answer 18

true

Question 19

Which of the following is not one of the five categories of generic policies discussed by Weimer and Vining? freeing, facilitating, and stimulating markets; using taxes and subsidies to alter incentives; suspending rules and norms; providing insurance and cushions

Answer 19

suspending rules and norms

Question 20

Which of the following is not one of the elements of the policy environment discussed in class? demographic characteristics, bargaining, geographic characteristics, political culture

Answer 20

bargaining

Question 21

which of the following is not one of the evaluation measures discussed in class? efficiency, commmensurability, effectiveness, adequacy

Answer 21

commensurability

Question 22

which of the following are strategies used to deny an item from being placed on the institutional agenda: argue there’s no problem, argue that it’s not appropriate for the government to act on the problem; argue that the problem will be better solved by private means, create a commission

Answer 22

all of the above

Question 23

V.O key described budgeting as the process used to determine “on what basis shall it be decided to allocate x _____ to ______ A instead of ______ B?”

Answer 23

money, activity, activity

Question 24

________ refers to small, incremental decreases in a budget.

Answer 24

decrementalism

Question 25

Wright’s _______ model of intergovernmental relations within the US federal system describes a system where the national, state, and local governments are dependent on each other adn authority is hierarchical

Answer 25

inclusive

Question 26

______ is the policy framework that posits that organized interests generally outperforms unorganized interests

Answer 26

interest groups

Question 27

the normative argument for _______ is that in the long run, better decisions are made by “successive limited comparisons” of a policy choice to the status quo, and gradually adapting policies through trial and error and learning. IT helps avoid “big mistakes”.

Answer 27

incrementalism

Question 28

which agenda contains the “set of items explicitly up for active and serious consideration by authoritative decision makers”?

Answer 28

action agenda

Question 29

which of the following is not an example of the subsidy and tax methods that Weimer and Vining discuss as ways to alter incentives? tariffs, tax expenditures, lotteries, vouchers

Answer 29

lotteries

Question 30

which is an example of a quasi-governmental organization?

Answer 30

Amtrack

Question 31

which is not a stage in the issue attention cycle? declining public interest, initial enthusiasm, realization of the cost, continuing resolution

Answer 31

continuing resolution

Question 32

which type of good is characterized as having high marginal costs and costly exclusion?

Answer 32

common goods

Question 33

Which of the following is not one of the four failures that are addressed by generic policies?

Answer 33

program termination

Question 34

_____ are the actions actually undertaken in pursuance of policy decisions and statements, whereas _______ focus on a policy’s societal consequences.

Answer 34

policy outputs, policy outcomes

Question 35

which of the following is an example of a nondiscretionary spending item? capital budget items, national endowment of the arts grants, social security benefits, deferrals

Answer 35

social security benefits

Question 36

True/False: whips are the legislative leadership officials tasked with keeping tabs on their caucus’ votes and ensuring party discipline

Answer 36

true

Question 37

True/False: institutionalism focuses on the importance of formal rules and structures to the policy-making process.

Answer 37

true

Question 38

True/False: NASA is a classic example of a cabinet-level executive branch department or agency

Answer 38

false

Question 39

True/False: debt is the cumulative amount owed by the nation across all budget cycles

Answer 39

true

Question 40

True/False: equity focuses on people getting access to the same opportunities, sometimes through unequal distribution of resources, and sometimes requires a trade-off in efficiency

Answer 40

true

Question 41

True/False: the terms formation and formulation are interchangeable except when discussing budget estimates

Answer 41

false

Question 42

True/False: the three levels of public policy include choices, outputs, and outcomes

Answer 42

true

Question 43

True/False: agenda denial refers to the theory by Obinado that because of the unfathomable complexity of public policy decision making, there really is no such thing as a true agenda

Answer 43

false

Question 44

True/False: logrolling describes the process where congressperson A trades his or her vote on bill X for congressperson B’s vote on bill Y

Answer 44

true

Question 45

True/False: The CBO is the office responsible for assisting the president with preparing the federal budget

Answer 45

false