Chapter 17
The Policy-Making Process
Setting the Agenda
A.
Political Agenda: Issues that people believe require
government action
Certain shared beliefs determine what is legitimate
(proper, right) for the government to do. This
legitimacy is affected by several forces:
B.
1.
2.
3.
4.
Shared political values
The weight of custom and tradition
The impact of events
Changes in the way political elites think and talk about
politics
The legitimate scope of
government action
A.
Beliefs about legitimacy has expanded
because we now accept and or
encourage “big government”
1.
Events trigger government action
a.
b.
c.
d.
Garfield Assassinated
Great Depression
9/11
The housing bubble bursts
The legitimate scope of
government action
continued
B.
Also, it is the case that government grows and
adds new issues to its agenda without a critical
event or widespread public demand.
Examples
1.
1966 automobile safety
2.
Occupational Safety and Health Act 1970
a.
Why? Four Reasons:
 Behavior of Groups
 Institutions
 Media
 Actions by the states
1. Behavior of Groups
A.
Small/large groups of people, organized
or unorganized, who demand
government action
1.
2.
3.
Organized labor demands
Black riots in American cities in the 1960s
The demands of these groups are awarded
only if society allows
2. Institutions
A.
The courts: courts have played a leading role in
advocating unpopular causes.
1.
2.
1954 when the Supreme Court ordered schools
desegregated
School busing
B.
The Bureaucracy: bureaucracy has begun to
think up problems for government to solve
rather than simply to respond to the problems
identified by others
C.
The Senate: has become one of the sources of
political change rather than, as the Founders
intended, a balance designed to moderate
change
3. Media:
A.
can act as gatekeeper and encourage
government to add issues to its agenda
4. Action by the States
A.
B.
States merely take the lead and
congress later passes law: “Do Not
Call” law
Litigation that changes industry
throughout the country -1998 tobacco
companies raised prices and paid large
sums of money to states and individuals
Making a Decision:
Once an issue is on the political
agenda, its nature affects the
kind of politicking that ensues.
Cost and Benefit
A.
Cost: any burden (monetary or non-monetary,
real or perceived), that a group must bear, e.g.:
1.
2.
3.
B.
Federal child-care programs (taxes).
Busing to achieve school desegregation (taxes,
psychological stress)
Tariffs (higher prices for goods)
Benefit: any satisfaction (monetary or nonmonetary, real or perceived) that a group will
enjoy from a policy, e.g.,
1.
2.
3.
Federal child-care programs (lower child care costs
for parents).
Busing to achieve school desegregation
(improvement in opportunity, greater racial harmony).
Tariffs (more jobs for workers, more profits for
businesses).
Widely-distributed and
Narrowly-concentrated
A.
Costs and benefits can be either widelydistributed (to many, most, or all citizens) or
narrowly-concentrated (for a relatively small
number of citizens or groups). Examples:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Widely-distributed costs: income tax, social security
tax, farm subsidies
Narrowly-concentrated costs: factory air emission
standards, higher capital gains taxes for the wealthy,
gun control regulations.
Narrowly-concentrated benefits: Farm subsidies,
tariffs
Widely-distributed benefits: Social Security benefits,
strong national security, clean air, federal highways,
antitrust legislation.
Four types of policies
Majoritarian, Interest Group,
Client, Entrepreneurial
What do you think?
I.
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Majoritarian policies
A.
Involve widely distributed costs and widely distributed
benefits.
Examples: Social Security, national defense
Analysis:
B.
C.
1.
2.
Usually not dominated by interest groups: virtually
everyone benefits from these, so why should an interest
group use scarce resources to lobby for policies that
everyone will benefit from? Interest groups will benefit
whether or not the devote resources to lobbyingLack of
incentive to participate
When a policy is adopted and people are convinced that
benefits are worth the cost, debate ends and the program
tends to steadily grow, and perhaps even becomes a
“sacred cow” that the government dare not touch (e.g.
Social Security).
Interest group policies
A.
B.
C.
Involve narrowly concentrated costs
and narrowly concentrated benefits.
Examples: tariffs, antitrust exemptions
(Major League Baseball)
Analysis: these tend to be fought over
by interest groups: the affected parties
are small enough, and the potential
costs and benefits are great enough, to
warrant interest group participation.
Client policies
A.
Involve widely distributed costs and narrowly
concentrated benefits.
Examples: farm subsidies, airline or trucking
regulation, pork barrel bills.
Analysis:
B.
C.
1.
2.
3.
Stong incentive for interest groups to participate.
Groups will receive the benefits, but the costs will be
spread out to everyone.
Since costs are so widely distributed and therefore
relatively small to each consumer, cost payers are
sometimes unaware that they are even paying the
costs (e.g., dairy subsidies)
Since interest groups benefit so much from these,
they are said to be a “client” of the related federal
agency—client groups.
Entrepreneurial policies
A.
Involve narrowly concentrated costs and widely
distributed benefits.
Example: consumer product safety legislation, ending
farm subsidies, deregulation.
Analysis:
B.
C.
1.
2.
3.
4.
Strong incentive for potential cost-paying group to
participate.
Prospective beneficiaries may find widely distributed
benefits too small to work hard for.
Because of a and b, policies of this category are often
defeated by the concerted efforts of cost-paying interest
groups.
Despite this, such policies are from time to time passed
through the strong efforts of people who act on behalf of
the unconcerned or unawarethese are called policy
entrepreneurs (e.g., Ralph Nader)
The case of business regulation
The case of business regulation
A.
The question of wealth and power
1.
One view: economic power dominates
political power
a.
b.
c.
2.
3.
Wealth can buy political power
Politicians and business people with similar
backgrounds and, thus, ideologies
Politicians must defer to business, to keep the
economy healthy
Another view: political power is a threat to a
market economy
Neither extreme correct
Majoritarian politics
A.
Antitrust legislation in 1890s
1.
2.
3.
4.
Public indignation strong but unfocused
Legislation vague; no specific enforcement agency
Sherman Act (1890) did not define trade illegalities or
provide an enforcement agency
Antitrust legislation strengthened in the twentieth
century
a.
b.
5.
6.
Presidents take initiative in encouraging enforcement
Politicians, business leaders committed to firm antitrust
policy
Federal Trade Commission created in 1914; Clayton
Act (1914) made certain practices illegal
Enforcement determined primarily by ideology and
personal convictions of the current presidential
administration
Interest group politics
A.
Labor-management conflict
1.
1935: labor unions seek government protection for their
rights; business firms in opposition
a.
2.
Wagner Act creates National Labor Relations Board (NLRB)
a.
b.
3.
B.
1947: Taft-Hartley Act a victory for management
1959: Landrum-Griffin Act another victory for management
Politics of the conflict
a.
b.
4.
5.
Unions win
Highly publicized struggle
Winners and losers determined by partisan composition of
Congress
Economic conditions also affected outcomes
After enactment of laws, conflict continues in NLRB and
courts
Similar pattern found in Occupational Safety and Health
Act of 1970
1.
2.
Reflects a labor victory with agency established
Appeals again made by business to courts about
regulations
Client politics
A.
Agency capture likely when benefits focused
and costs dispersed—agency created to serve
a group’s needs
Licensing of attorneys, barbers, etc.
B.
1.
Restricts entry into occupation or profession
a.
2.
People not generally opposed
a.
3.
C.
Allows members to charge higher prices
Believe regulations protect them
Costs are not obvious
Regulation of milk industry, sugar production,
merchant shipping
1.
2.
Prevents price competition and keeps price up
Public unaware of inflated prices
Entrepreneurial politics;
I.
relies on entrepreneurs to galvanize
public opinion, mobilize
congressional support
A.
1906: Pure Food and Drug Act protected
consumer
1960s and 1970s: large number of
consumer and environmental protection
statutes passed (e.g., Clean Air Act,
Toxic Substance Control Act)
Policy entrepreneur usually associated
with such measures (e.g., Ralph Nader)
B.
C.
1.
2.
Often assisted by crisis or scandal
Debate becomes moralistic and extreme
Entrepreneurial Politics
continued
A.
Risk of such programs: agency may be
captured by the regulated industry
1.
Newer agencies less vulnerable
a.
b.
c.
d.
Standards specific, timetables strict so relatively
little discretion
Usually regulate many different industries; thus do
not face unified opposition
Their existence has strengthened public-interest
lobbies that sought their creation
Public interest groups can use courts to bring
pressure on regulatory agencies
Perceptions, beliefs,
interests, and values
Problem of definition
1.
2.
3.
Costs and benefits not completely defined in
money terms
Cost or benefit a matter of perception
Political conflict largely a struggle to make
one set of beliefs about costs and benefits
prevail over another
Types of arguments used
1.
2.
Here-and-now argument—people care more
about the present than the distant future
Cost argument—people react more strongly
to costs than to benefits
Role of values
1.
2.
Values: our conceptions of what is good for
our community or our country
Emphasis on self-interest leads to
neglecting the power of ideas