1

Policy Final Study Guide

(The final exam will consist of about 30-45 minutes of multiple-choice/short answer questions,
and 1.5-2 hours of essay questions)
Discuss and evaluate in essay-length detail:
See end of document for essay framework.
● A chart from one of the assigned reports on domestic policy;
○ You should be able to discuss what its policy relevance is. In other words,
what does that chart suggest regarding good policy in that arena? What
might be misleading about that chart? What counter arguments should
you consider?
● The pressing policy problems, sources of information, and broad policy options
regarding a major topic in domestic policy (economic inequality/social mobility;
social safety net; fiscal policy; education policy; health policy);
○
● The use, advantages, and disadvantages of the toolkits and instruments of
foreign policy;
○ See L31 Notes
● One particular policy area that you care deeply about, including the major
questions in that area, the major institutional players (government agencies, think
tanks, nonprofits, or other advocacy groups, esp. at the federal level), and its
relationship to other major U.S. policy arenas.

Understanding assessed by short answer questions:

● Review from the pre-midterm:
o What is and is not public policy
● Public policy is sum of government activities that have an
influence on the lives of citizens
● Problem centered rather than method centered.
○ Ex: healthcare, international policy, education, etc
● Politics= who gets what
○ The re-election of an official
● Policy= address issues for public interest
○ Ex: The Affordable Care Act
● Government Activity: does not equal public policy
○ There are some public policies that rely on the private
sector to carry them out
■ Gov wants a healthier population, support
private health insurance companies, people get
their help through the private sector
● Policy is NOT
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○ Private matters such as employee dress codes,

○ Stages model of the policy process

a) Problem definition: describing the problem
b) Policy Formulation: Proposal of solutions
c) Policy Adoption: devising a policy
d) Policy Implementation: making it happen
e) Policy Evaluation: was it successful?
o Loss aversion and why it matters for public policy
● Gain/loss response is asymmetric
● Losses felt more keenly than corresponding gains
● Linkage with biological theory, e.g., loser effect
○ Example
■ if you lost $10 that pain would hurt more than the
satisfaction you get from making $10. That's why fear
is such a powerful emotion.
o The idea that politics causes policy
o The concept of street-level bureaucrats:
● Street-level bureaucracy is the subset of a public agency or
government institution where the civil servants work who have
direct contact with members of the general public.
o The ethical strengths and weaknesses of cost-benefit analysis
● May include economic criteri\a?
○ Pareto principle:
■ Policy benefits at least one person while harming no one
○ Kaldor-hicks:
■ The winners benefit enough that they could compensate
losers while still gaining
○ Consumer’s surplus:
■ The amount a consumer is willing to pay minus the amount
the consumer actually pays
○ Discounting?
■ the idea that we put more value on the present than the
future
■ Benefits are discounted over time
■ Identify and distinguish reputable sources of policy
information, including recognizing what you should consider
when imbibing products from these sources (esp. policy
strengths and ideological reputation): Brookings Institution,
American Enterprise Institute, Heritage Foundation, RAND
Corporation, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Peter G.
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Peterson Foundation, Opportunity Insights, Education Trust,

Kaiser Family Foundation, Migration Policy Institute, Oxfam,
UN IPCC
● Goals of American Public Policy
○ Describe at least a couple of ways of determining the goals of American
public policy:
■ The constitution, look to the budget for goals of public policy, public
polls
○ Articulate your own view regarding the goals of American public policy:
■ Reflects the interests of those at the top
■ Those elected represent wishes of majority.
● Economic policy
○ Outline the major levers of economic policy:
■ Goals of macroeconomic policy: Economic growth, full employment,
stable prices, positive balance of payments in international trade
○ Identify key facts regarding social mobility and economic inequality in the
U.S:
■ The wage gap has been increasing
● Social security (37% of mandatory spending)
○ Identify as universal social insurance (rather than means-tested):
■ Universal social protection ensures that anyone who needs
social protection can access it at any time.
■ Means-tested welfare is exclusively for low-income individuals.
● Describe the types of beneficiaries:
● Retired workers, survivors, children, disabled workers
● Identify the status of the Social Security Trust Fund and its depletion
projections:
○ In 2019, Social Security's reserves were $2.9 trillion at the year's
end, having increased by $2 billion. The Trustees project that under
the intermediate assumptions, the Old-Age and Survivors
Insurance (OASI) Trust Fund will be able to pay full benefits on a
timely basis until 2034, unchanged from last year.
o Explain the factors complicating the long-term stability of social security
● The share of Americans over 65 will grow because Boomers are
reaching age 65 and people are living longer than 65.
● Birth rates are remaining at the replacement level
● By 2095, 65 and older will increase from 16% to 23%

● Identify (with a sense of annual spending) and describe briefly these major types
of means-tested welfare:
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○ Medicaid (15% mandatory spending)

■ Medicaid in the United States is a federal and state program that
helps with medical costs for some people with limited income and
resources (mandatory spending)
○ Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP)
■ CHIP provides low-cost health coverage to children in families that
earn too much money to qualify for Medicaid. (mandatory spending)
○ Temporary Aid to Needy Families (TANF)
■ The TANF program, which is time limited, assists families with
children when the parents or other responsible relatives cannot
provide for the family's basic needs.
○ Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)
■ SNAP stands for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
SNAP is a federal program that helps millions of low-income
Americans put food on the table.
■ Domestic food assistance—SNAP and child nutrition programs in
the mandatory spending accounts, and WIC and other programs
in the discretionary spending accounts
○ Federal Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC)
■ The United States federal earned income tax credit or earned
income credit is a refundable tax credit for low- to moderate-income
working individuals and couples, particularly those with children.
○ Education and job training
■ 8% of discretionary spending budget
● “Deaths of Despair”
○ Articulate the meaning of “deaths of despair” as a policy problem
■ The diseases of despair are three classes of behavior-related
medical conditions that increase in groups of people who
experience despair due to a sense that their long-term social and
economic outlook is bleak. The three disease types are drug
overdose, suicide, and alcoholic liver disease.
○ Debate the role that public policy could and should play in addressing
deaths of despair
❏ Education, healthcare, and economic policies could all be beneficial
in reducing deaths of despair.
○ Describe the interconnections of economic policy and social policy
❏ Economic policies, such as taxes, can impact certain groups more,
leading to problems like income inequality and increasing wage
gaps.
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● Welfare policy
○ Identify the major types of means-tested welfare
❏ The means-tested welfare system consists of 79 federal programs
providing cash, food, housing, medical care, social services, training,
and targeted education aid to poor and low-income Americans.
❏ Means-tested welfare therefore does not include Social
Security, Medicare, Unemployment Insurance, or worker’s
compensation.
❏ Some majors types: Medicaid, TANF, SNAP, earned income tax
credit, supplemental security income, housing assistance
○ Debate reforms to the U.S. welfare system
○ Analyze the evidence used to make claims about welfare effectiveness
● Fiscal policy (taxing and spending)
○ Distinguish major federal revenue sources by type of tax
■ Most revenue comes from individual income tax
● Explain the concept of a tax expenditure and its trade offs
○ Tax expenditures are loopholes and allowances in the tax code
that favor certain groups and usually incentivize certain behaviors
by eliminating or reducing their tax burden.
■ From the Briefing Book: The Congressional Budget and
Impoundment Control Act of 1974 defines tax expenditures
as “revenue losses attributable to provisions of the Federal
tax laws which allow a special exclusion, exemption, or
deduction from gross income or which provide a special
credit, a preferential rate of tax, or a deferral of tax liability.”
● These provisions are meant to support favored
activities or assist favored groups of taxpayers
■ The U.S. tax code is chock full of tax expenditures.
● The largest are for employer-sponsored health
insurance; reduced rates on dividends and long-term
capital gains; credits for dependents (esp. children);
and tax benefits for employer defined contribution
plans. Other examples are the earned income tax
credit or the mortgage interest deduction.
■ overall the benefits of tax expenditures are heavily weighted
toward the upper end of the income scale.

● Distinguish mandatory v. discretionary spending, including the major budgetary

components of each
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○ Discretionary spending is determined on an annual basis by Congress

and the President through enactment of appropriations.
■ Discretionary spending areas: defense (biggest portion), education,
healthcare, transportation, etc.
○ This category of spending is called "mandatory" because such programs
are governed by provisions of permanent law. Put another way, spending
on a mandatory program is essentially on “autopilot” unless policymakers
change the laws governing the program.
■ Mandatory spending areas: social security, medicaid and medicare,
veterans programs, federal retirement programs, income security
programs
● Identify the budget deficit and current levels of federal revenue and federal
spending
○ The federal government ran a deficit of $3.1 trillion in fiscal year 2020,
more than triple the deficit for fiscal year 2019.
○ Aka, federal spending is more than federal revenue

● Distinguish broad differences in U.S. tax policy compared with other developed
countries
○ The United States relies less on taxes on goods and services
(including both general consumption taxes and taxes on specific goods
and services) than any other OECD country
○ The Tax Policy Center looked into the matter in 2018 and found that U.S.
taxes represent about 24.3% of the country’s gross domestic product
(GDP). The average for other member countries of the Organisation for
Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is about 34%.
○ US does not have value-added taxes

● Explain the basic features of a value-added tax and how it fits with American
fiscal policy
○ A value-added tax (VAT) is a consumption tax that is levied on a product
repeatedly at every point of sale at which value has been added.
■ Ultimately, the retail consumer pays the VAT tax.

● Describe in broad strokes the federal budget process, both as ideal and how it
has worked in practice during the last decade.
○ The president submits a budget to Congress by the first Monday in
February every year. The budget contains estimates of federal
government income and spending for the upcoming fiscal year and also
recommends funding levels for the federal government.
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● Recognize main features of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act

○ The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), passed in December 2017, made
several significant changes to the individual income tax. These changes
include a nearly doubled standard deduction, new limitations on itemized
deductions, reduced income tax rates, and reforms to several other
provisions. In all, these changes simplify the individual income tax by
eliminating the need for millions of households to itemize their deductions.

● Identify what shapes American attitudes toward taxes

■ Evidence shows that American attitudes towards taxes is different
based on partisan identity
■ Also varies with self-interest (wealthy people are more likely to
oppose progressive income taxes)
■ According to Campbell, Americans consider property and income
taxes as the worst taxes.
■ According to Campbell, American attitudes about taxes are most
demonstrably shaped by self-interest and rhetoric from
politicians
● K-12 education policy
○ Distinguish public school finance by governmental source (local, state,
federal)
■ Federal, state, and district level decision makers determine how
funding is distributed
■ In NC: Majority comes from state, then local, then federal
government
○ Identify and distinguish distributive v. independent educational values as
described by Harry Brighouse, Helen F. Ladd, Susanna Loeb, and Adam
Swift
■ Distributive values: adequacy (adequacy of educational goods),
equality ( equality of educational goods), and the distribution of
educational goods that most benefits those with the worst
prospects for flourishing (benefiting the less advantaged).
■ Independent values: childhood goods, parents’ interests, respect
for democratic processes, freedom of residence and of occupation,
and other goods.
○ Describe the core features of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA):
■ Advances equity by upholding critical protections for America's
disadvantaged and high-need students (poverty, minorities, limited
english skills, disabled)
■ Requires that all students in America be taught to high academic
standards that will prepare them to succeed in college and careers.
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■ Ensures that vital information is provided to educators, families,

students, and communities through annual statewide assessments
that measure students' progress toward those high standards.
■ Helps to support and grow local innovations—including
evidence-based and place-based interventions developed by local
leaders and educators—consistent with our Investing in Innovation
and Promise Neighborhoods
■ Sustains and expands this administration's historic investments in
increasing access to high-quality preschool.
■ Maintains an expectation that there will be accountability and action
to effect positive change in our lowest-performing schools, where
groups of students are not making progress, and where graduation
rates are low over extended periods of time.
● Health care policy
○ Describe and distinguish the core features of Medicaid and Medicare
■ Medicare (23% mandatory spending) is a federal program that
provides health coverage if you are 65+ or under 65 and have a
disability, no matter your income. Medicaid (15%) is a state and
federal program that provides health coverage if you have a very
low income.
○ Describe the major goals and features of the Affordable Care Act (ACA)
■ Goal of ACA was to make sure every american had health
insurance (individual mandate)
■ Increase health insurance coverage, reduce rising healthcare costs,
and improve the quality of care provided
■ Another goal was to expand medicaid programs
○ Identify major problems in American health care, especially in comparative
perspective
- High cost of healthcare per capita, yet we have the same or worse
health outcomes compared to other countries
- High costs of insurance and care
- Millions of americans remain uninsured
○ Identify quality sources for information about health care policy
■ “An Overview of Medicare,” Issue Brief, Kaiser Family Foundation,
Feb. 2019
■ Robin Rudowitz, Rachel Garfield and Elizabeth Hinton, “10 Things
to Know about Medicaid: Setting the Facts Straight,” Issue Brief,
Kaiser Family Foundation, March 2019
■ Liu et al, “Effects of a Public Option on Health Insurance Costs and
Coverage,” Rand Corporation [link]
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■ OECD “Heath at a Glance” report

○ List the major institutions of public health in the U.S.
○ Discuss federalism and its impact on the structures of U.S. public health
- One example is the expansion of Medicaid under the ACA: it is up
to the states discretion on whether they want to expand. 14 states
have still not expanded, leaving millions in a “coverage gap”
○ Describe the major problems facing public health in the U.S.
● Immigration policy
o Identify the foreign-born population
- The U.S. foreign-born population reached a record 44.8 million in
2018.
o Describe push and pull factors for central American immigrants
- Economic factors
o Identify factors shaping the question of the “right” amount of immigration
to allow in the U.S.
- Infrastructure (don’t have enough roads, hospitals, ect for a growing
population)
● Foreign policy toolkits – Identify and distinguish:
o President’s toolkit
o Congress’s toolkit
● Foreign policy – Identify and distinguish:
○ Diplomatic instruments
○ Economic instruments
○ Military instruments
○ Secret intelligence instruments
○ International institutions instruments
○ Homeland security instruments
● Foreign aid & international development
○ Explain reasons for U.S. spending on foreign aid
■ Such support typically falls into one of three categories:
humanitarian assistance for life-saving relief from natural and
manmade disasters; development assistance that promotes the
economic, social, and political development of countries and
communities; and security assistance, which helps strengthen the
military and security forces in countries allied with the United
States.
■ Another reason for aid can be simply for self-interested reasons
such as domestic politics
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○ Recognize the portion of U.S. spending on development aid and describe

disjuncture between American perceptions of spending on foreign aid and
its actual spending
■ The US spends about 2% of its federal budget on foriegn aid, but
Americans tend to think we spend much more, even up to 25%.
○ Describe US Agency for International Development (USAID)
■ President John. F. Kennedy created the United States Agency for
International Development by executive order in 1961
■ An independent agency of the United States federal government
that is primarily responsible for administering civilian foreign aid and
development assistance. With a budget of over $27 billion, USAID
is one of the largest official aid agencies in the world, and accounts
for more than half of all U.S. foreign assistance—the highest in the
world in absolute dollar terms.
○ Recognize major international organizations, especially by function
○ Recognize the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
- There are 17 goals.
- No poverty, zero hunger, good health/wellbeing, quality education,
gender equality, clean water, affordable/clean energy, decent
work/economic growth, industry + innovation + infrastructure,
reduce inequality, sustainable communities, responsible
consumption and production, climate action, life below water, life on
land, peace + justice + strong institutions, partnerships for the goals
o Define extreme poverty and recognize number and portion of children
living in extreme poverty
- Extreme poverty affects children the most because the resources
they lack have long-term developmental repercussions that limit
their future and further the cycle of poverty. More than one-fifth of
children under the age of 5 in developing countries live in extreme
poverty.
- The World Bank defines “extreme poverty” as living on less than
$1.90 per person per day.
● Environmental policy
○ Describe the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
■ The IPCC is a source that provides policymakers with solutions for
solving climate change
■ Includes scientific information about risks and predictions for the
future
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■ “It identifies where there is agreement in the scientific community

on topics related to climate change, and where further research is
needed.“
■ Guaranteed objectivity.
○ Distinguish Obama v. Trump administration policy on the Paris Agreement
and the Clean Power Plan
■ Obama: Joined the agreement in April, 2016
● Executive Order to contribute $3 billion to the Green Climate
Fund
■ Trump: left the Paris agreement officially on November 4th, 2020
● On June 19, 2019, the Trump administration signed a final
rule doing away with the Clean Power Plan
UNIT II

L19: Economic Policy

● Describe at least a couple of ways of determining the goals of American public
policy
○ Look to the budget and the constitution
○ Our goals for public policy also come from who we elect as leaders as
popularity for them typically comes from the wants of the people who elect
them.
● Articulate your own view regarding the goals of American public policy
○ They reflect the goals of the people/ agencies on top that can incentivize
policy makers to act in their favor (ex. Big corporation campaign funding).
● Outline the major levers of economic policy
○ GDP: measures economic growth
● Identify key facts regarding social mobility and economic inequality in the U.S.
○ We find high MVPFs(marginal value of public funds) for policies targeting
low-income children throughout childhood, including child health insurance
expansions and many college policies. This suggests that the returns from
investment in children do not appear to decline with age (Opportunity
Insights)
○ The problems are also rooted in disastrous policy choices over 50 years.
The United States wrested power from labor and gave it to business, and
it suppressed wages and cut taxes rather than invest in human capital, as
our peer countries did (Kristof, Atlantic Article)

L20: Knapp Family

● Articulate the meaning of “deaths of despair” as a policy problem
 12

○ The diseases of despair are three classes of behavior-related medical

conditions that increase in groups of people who experience despair due
to a sense that their long-term social and economic outlook is bleak. The
three disease types are drug overdose, suicide, and alcoholic liver
disease.
● Debate the role that public policy could and should play in addressing deaths of
despair
○ Should play a role in addressing deaths of despair because 1)
Government has the responsibility of bettering the lives of its citizens and
2) These investments will be paid back in the form of economic growth
● Describe the interconnections of economic policy and social policy
○ Economic policy deals with managing money and allocating funds. The
economy must work for the working class (social policy)
○ Meaningfulness of the working class seems to have evaporated
○ Decrease in life expectancy as a social problem caused by economic
means.
L21: Fiscal Policy

● Distinguish major federal revenue sources by type of tax

○ Individual income tax (47.9%), Corporate income tax (9.0%), Social
insurance (payroll tax) (35%), Excise tax (2.5%), Other (5.6%)
● Explain the concept of a tax expenditure and its trade offs
○ Tax expenditures are special provisions of the tax code such as
exclusions, deductions, deferrals, credits, and tax rates that benefit
specific activities or groups of taxpayers.
○ Tradoffs: Benefits corporations and those who make more
● Distinguish mandatory v. discretionary spending, including the major budgetary
components of each
○ Included above (P. 5)
● Identify the budget deficit and current levels of federal revenue and federal
spending
○ 50% of revenue comes from individual income tax
○ 7% comes from corporate taxes
○ 36% comes from payroll taxes
● Distinguish broad differences in U.S. tax policy compared with other developed
countries
○ Most countries use VMT Tax
● Explain the basic features of a value-added tax and how it fits with American
fiscal policy
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○ The value-added tax (VAT) is the world’s most common form of

consumption tax, in place in more than 160 countries, including every
economically advanced nation except the United States.
○ “Value added” is the difference between business sales and purchase of
goods and services from other businesses. It represents the sum of
wages, other labor compensation (such as health insurance), interest
payments, and the profits businesses earn.
○ The lower the revenue target and the broader the base, the lower the tax
rate will be.
○ Most countries exempt small businesses from a value-added tax
● Describe in broad strokes the federal budget process, both as ideal and how it
has worked in practice during the last decade.
○ Presidential submission of a budget.
○ Congress passes a concurrent budget resolution setting total spending,
revenue, and deficit targets for at least the next five years
○ Passes annual appropriation bills to fund discretionary programs and
legislation to enact any changes to mandatory programs and taxes.
○ Agencies not funded receive previous funding by Oct 1
○ Reconciliation to fast track revenue and spending.
● Recognize main features of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act
○ The Tax Cut and Jobs Act (TCJA) reduced the top corporate income tax
rate from 35 percent to 21 percent, bringing the US rate below the average
for most other Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
countries
● Identify what shapes American attitudes toward taxes
○ Americans tend to hate taxes, based on maintaining self interest.
○ Popularity of tax varies with costs and design features.
○ In 2005, the property tax was the least popular, 42 percent of respondents
saying it was the worst, followed by the federal income tax (20 percent),
state sales tax (17 percent), Social Security tax (10 percent), and state
income tax (7 percent). In 2006, Cole and Kincaid elicited similar
responses, although their question did not include the payroll tax: 41
percent said the property tax is the worst, followed by the federal income
tax (25 percent), state sales tax (15 percent), and state income tax (10
percent) (Andrea Louise Campbell, “How Americans Think About Taxes:
Lessons from the History of Tax Attitudes,” National Tax Association
Proceedings (2009))

L22: A Social Safety Net

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● Explain the factors complicating the long-term stability of social security

○ Baby boomers
● Describe the types of beneficiaries
○ Disabled, Survivors (child/widow), Elderly
● Identify the status of the Social Security Trust Fund and its depletion projections
○ In 2021, revenue from payroll contributions, interests on reserves and
taxation on benefits is expected to be less than total outgo for the year.
○ If action is not taken soon, reserves will be drawn down to pay benefits in
2021.
○ In 2035, trust fund reserves are projected to be depleted, income is
projected to cover 79% of benefits due then.
○ By 2095, assuming no changes in taxes, benefits, or assumptions,
revenue would cover 73% of benefits due that year.
● Identify as universal social insurance (rather than means-tested)
○ Ensure income security paying particular attention to the poor/vulnerable
L23: National Debt
● Identify the national debt and current levels of federal revenue and federal
spending, at least in ballpark terms
● Debate whether the national debt is a policy problem
● Consider tradeoffs in fiscal priorities
L24: Health Care Policy
● Describe and distinguish the core features of Medicaid and Medicare
○ Medicaid:
■ Means tested,
■ Federal-state partnership,
■ Covers a broad range of health and long-term care services,
■ Most enrollees get care through private managed care plans,
■ Jointly funded
■ Medicaid spending is concentrated on the elderly and people with
disabilities
■ The majority of the public holds favorable views of Medicaid
○ Medicare: For people ages 65+ and those with a long term disability,
■ Part A: Hospital visits, nurses, subject to a deductible
■ Part B: Physician visits, subject to deductible and coinsurance.
■ Part C: Medicare Advantage Program → private health enrollment
with Part A,B, and D benefits.
■ Part D: Outpatient prescription drugs
■ Average out of pocket spending: $5806 in 2016
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● Describe the major goals and features of the Affordable Care Act (ACA)
○ Individual mandate: everyone must have healthcare
○ Guaranteed coverage: cannot deny b/c pre-existing conditions
○ Government subsidies: help those who cannot afford
● Identify major problems in American health care, especially in comparative
perspective
○ Lack of coverage across the nation
○ High prescription drug and hospital costs
○ Expensive or no coverage for those with preexisting conditions.
○ Quality: expensive, but no better than others in OECD (higher infant
mortality)
● Identify quality sources for information about health care policy
○ An Overview of Medicare -Brief Issue - Kaiser Family
○ Ten things to Know about Medicaid -Issue Brief- KFF
○ OECD “Heath at a Glance” report
○ Liu et al, “Effects of a Public Option on Health Insurance Costs and
Coverage,” Rand Corporation [link]
L25: Public Health Policy
● List the major institutions of public health in the U.S.
○ FDA
○ CDC
○ OCEA
○ National Institutes of health
○ Building Codes
● Discuss federalism and its impact on the structures of U.S. public health
○ Federal, state, local, pyramid. Funding travels down.
○ Federal government funds all the agencies.
● Describe the major problems facing public health in the U.S.
○ Chronic underfunding: “America’s neglect of nursing homes and prisons,
its sick buildings, and its botched deployment of tests are all indicative of
its problematic attitude toward health:” -Atlantic Article
■ 2.5% of budget is for public health
○ Life expectancy decrease of Americans
○ To help accomplish objectives, CDC supports states, tribes, territories,
localities, and community org’s in addressing leading health threats in their
communities.
■ Budget hasn’t grown with population increase and increase in
substance abuse etc; COVID-19, minimal healthy aging funding
○ Loss of workers in health departments. 55k (1/4th) since 2009 -Atlantic
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○ Funding is decreasing rapidly

● Important source:
https://sakai.unc.edu/access/lessonbuilder/item/2494110/group/0d6f05b9-42a8-4
25c-98a0-c56a4badd9aa/Unit%202:%20%20The%20Su_Domestic%20Focus/Le
sson%2025/TFAH_2019_PublicHealthFunding_07.pdf
● https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2020/09/coronavirus-american-fail
ure/614191/
L26: Welfare Policy that Works
● Identify the major types of means-tested welfare
○ The means-tested welfare system consists of 79 federal programs providing
cash, food, housing, medical care, social services, training, and targeted
education aid to poor and low-income Americans.
○ Means-tested welfare therefore does not include Social Security,
Medicare, Unemployment Insurance, or worker’s compensation.
○ Some majors types: Medicaid, TANF, SNAP, earned income tax credit,
supplemental security income, housing assistance
● Debate reforms to the U.S. welfare system
○ Increased dependency on government can cause people to become
reliant.
○ Self-defeating behaviors behaviors that increase the need aren’t
addressed, instead, money is simply given -Heritage Foundation
○ Welfare should encourage able-bodied people to prepare for the
workforce as a condition for receiving aid. -HF
○ Make funding clear like Medicare and Social Security on the fed. Budget.
-currently invisible on the state and federal budget
● Analyze the evidence used to make claims about welfare effectiveness
○ Hidden $1.1 Trillion in the Welfare System - Heritage Foundation
○ When “means-tested” income-support programs — those that limit
assistance to people with low or modest incomes — are considered as a
group, they lifted more than 27 million low-income Americans above the
poverty line in 2012. - CBPC
○ Approximately 80 percent of all long-term child poverty occurs in
single-parent homes.
○ As the War on Poverty expanded benefits, welfare began to serve as a
substitute for a husband in the home, and low-income marriage began to
disappear. - Heritage
■ Number of women working in 1960: 61,582. # In 1970: 72,782
(https://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2002/05/art2full.pdf)
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■ Full-year women workers increased from 60.2 percent in 1980 to

72.2 percent in 1999. → increased women working suggests that
welfare increases does not disincentivize working or marriage.
(nber)
■ Debunks this claim: “More important, most existing welfare
programs either fail to encourage or actively discourage efforts
toward self-support through work and marriage. As a result, they
are inefficient, unnecessarily costly, and ultimately harmful to
recipients.”- Heritage Fund
● Men and women are more equally sharing home and market responsibilities,
although women still bear a larger share of housework and child care than men
do. → suggests a higher need of support for women, questioning why a woman
would be disincentivized to marry. (nber)
● https://www.nber.org/digest/nov05/changing-work-behavior-married-women
L27: K-12 Education Policy
● Identify and distinguish distributive v. independent educational values as
described by Harry Brighouse, Helen F. Ladd, Susanna Loeb, and Adam Swift
○ Distributive: 2 components (1) distributive role (2) object of distribution
■ Decision makers at the school level choose how to allocate
students to teachers, which teachers to hire, and what kind of
instructional leadership to provide.
■ Three distributive values: adequacy of educational goods
(adequacy), equality of educational goods (equality) and the
distribution of educational goods that most benefits those with the
worst prospects for flourishing (benefitting the less advantaged).
○ Independent: Some policies or practices aimed at increasing equality can
be accomplished without excessive cost in terms of other values.
■ ‘independent values’ are neither educational goods nor valuable
distributions of educational goods but they also contribute to
flourishing, but not via the production of educational goods.
■ Types: Childhood goods, parent’s interests, respect to democratic
processes, freedom of residence and occupation
● Distinguish public school finance by governmental source (local, state, federal)
○ Federal, state, and district level decision makers determine how funding is
distributed
○ In NC: Majority comes from state, then local, then federal government
● Analyze evidence for claims about public school quality
○ Segregation → based on community, limited school choice,
 18

○ Education experts argue vociferously about a range of potential causes,

including school segregation, limited school choice, funding inequities,
family poverty, too much focus on test prep and a dearth of instruction in
basic skills like phonics
(https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/03/us/us-students-international-test-sc
ores.html)
L28: Higher Education Policy
● Discuss the public policy issues involved in higher education policy
○ Higher education widening the gap between rich and poor in the past four
decades
○ Rising tuition and declining government assistance is making it harder.
○ Student debt burden of $1.5 trillion in 2019
○ “Now we find ourselves at a very different juncture, where the economy is
demanding college degrees but the polity has balked at funding them.”
(https://www-nybooks-com.libproxy.lib.unc.edu/articles/2020/07/02/what-is
-college-worth/)
● Debate the value of a college education and the reasons it correlates strongly
with economic and social status
○ ⅘ African-Americans graduate with debt (70% more debt than white
people)
○ Imposter syndrome for those who come from uneducated families
○ two thirds of students at the most selective colleges come from the
country’s top income quintile, while only 4 percent come from the lowest
one.
○ A college degree seems to promise higher wages along with an insurance
policy against layoffs, health care emergencies, and all of the other
unforeseen catastrophes that can bring ruin and destitution
(https://www-nybooks-com.libproxy.lib.unc.edu/articles/2020/07/02/what-is
-college-worth/)
○ Less support for minorities that need it. UT Texas study that tracked down
students who needed more support and held meetings with them.
■ raised the black graduation rate from 37 to 58 percent
○ “This means that higher education is more than just a signal of a student’s
traits and abilities; instead, it actually increases the productivity and other
attributes of a graduate.”
(https://www.aei.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/The-College-Completion
-Landscape.pdf)
○ Among those with some college, the percentage of individuals living in
households in poverty was 11 percent in 2015, compared to 8 percent for
 19

those with an associate degree and 4 percent for those with a bachelor’s
degree or higher.
(https://www.aei.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/The-College-Completion
-Landscape.pdf)
● Evaluate evidence regarding higher education performance
○ “Increasing evidence documents that the costs of non-completion are
more than just foregone earnings and opportunities—there are also
financial responsibilities these students must confront without the benefit
of the gains of a credential. As a society, we also lose the many public and
social benefits of having a more educated populace. The challenges and
missed opportunities due to low rates of degree completion underscore
the significance of the problem our nation faces.”
(https://www.aei.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/The-College-Completion
-Landscape.pdf)
L29: Free College for All?
● Same Q’s as L28
● “We’ll never make the case for free college until we make it better for students
and their families with the tools that we already have. That would be a welcome
first step toward convincing a wary public that college should be a public good.”
(https://www-nybooks-com.libproxy.lib.unc.edu/articles/2020/07/02/what-is-colleg
e-worth/)

UNIT III
L30: Immigration Policy
● Identify and contextualize the foreign-born population of the U.S.
○ 45 million foreign-born people now make their home in the United States;
11 to 12 million live here illegally. (Atlantic)
○ Within a decade, the foreign-born percentage of the U.S. population will
surpass its previous all-time peak — and then keep rising.
(https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/04/david-frum-how-m
uch-immigration-is-too-much/583252/)
○ Four of the five Americans who won Nobels in 2016 were born outside the
country
● Describe push and pull factors for central American immigrants
○ Accelerating so rapidly in the 21st century less because of pervading
misery than because life on our planet is improving for so many people.
○ Political instability - push
○ Fleeing crime - push
○ Aspirations for better life - pull
○ Family members who have moved already - pull
 20

● Identify factors shaping the question of the “right” amount of immigration to allow
in the U.S.
○ Have enough for social security
○ Not an overflow in hospitals
○ Too little immigration, and you freeze your country out of the modern
world.
○ Too much, or the wrong kind, and you overstress your social-insurance
system—and possibly upend your democracy
○ Low-skill workers will “displace” American workers
L31: Toolkits of Foreign Policy
● Identify and distinguish the tools in the president’s toolkit

Tool: Advantages: Disadvantages:

People: Greater credibility bc of Enormous time constraints

closeness to the president: on senior leaders:

President No higher authority Limited time and focus

Vice President High authority if seen as Spread thinly over domestic

close to the president and foreign policy

National Security advisor - Authoritative conduit- they More time but still limited - a
serves on National security have authoritative protection lot of tasks
council and produces
research, briefings, and
intelligence resources for
president.

NSC staff Loyal, attuned to White May have own agendas

House moods

Special envoys Manage major issues across Actual power limited if not
agencies Senate-confirmed

Processes Allows issue resolution at Time-consuming, not

the lowest possible level usable in crises

Principals Committee (PC) Avoids overreaction to Requires President to resolve

presidential signals conflicts

Deputies Committee (DC) - Workhorse of NSC process Overburdened from above

workhorse for interagency and below
process, consisting of
number two officials in most
apartments. Meet up
frequently to Tee up matters
for president and PC

Interagency Policy
Committees (IPC)
Presidential actions
Personal contact
Public Statement
Executive order
International agreement
Allocation of funds-
President writes budget,
congress approves it.
Order to departmental
instruments
Identify and distinguish the tools in Congress’s toolkit
Action:
Substantive legislation- sets
forth policy principles and
administrative tasks. Set of
laws that govern how people
are to behave. Ex: 1986 law
prohibiting new US
investment in South Africa.(
Passed over Reagan’s veto)
Procedural legislation
Venue for interagency
coordination
Greater authority from
White House actions
Conveys presidential views
directly; gets responses
Clarity and transparency
Force of law; hard to change
Many models: private
understanding, agreed
statements, executive
agreements, treaties; the
more formal, the more
binding
Gives specific resources for
policy actions
Delegates action to
presumed experts with
authority to act
Advantages:
Binding law; limits
presidential discretion
(ex. Was passed over
Reagan’s veto).
Puts onus on president
21
Leader may lack clout with
bureaucratic equals
Legal and political
limitations often apply
Personal chemistry may hurt
as well as help
Hard to satisfy multiple
audiences
Needs careful drafting; hard
to change
The more formal, the more
time-consuming for senior
leaders
Many funding actions
require notifications or
approval by Congress
Reduces White House
supervision and control;
agencies may pursue
separate agendas
Disadvantages:
Harder to pass; much harder
to change
Jimmy Carter and China:
Congress sought to reverse
and then strictly limit the
impact of the president’s
policy change
Can be evaded
 22

Advisory legislation Easier to pass Can be ignored

Appropriations Unchallengeable as grants Mandy hurdles to approval;

or denials of funds some loopholes to denials

Oversight (hearings, Dramatizes issues; gains Time-consuming; can be

investigations, reports) information abused

Informal contacts Easy; less confrontational Can be ignored

Delay or rejection of Gains attentions and Limits presidential choice

nominations leverage over issue and actions

Delay or rejection of treaties Gains attention and leverage Can damage relations with
over issue other nations

Framing issues Rewards for early action Many potential competitors

L33: Major Instruments of Foreign Policy

● Identify and distinguish the diplomatic instruments of foreign policy

People: Advantages: Disadvantages:

Secretary of State - primary Authoritative, powerful - Limits on time, multiple

spokesperson to explain and fourth in line for presidency; demands
defend U.S. foreign policy. most prestigious cabinet
Appointed by the President post
with the advice and consent
of the Senate. President's
chief foreign affairs adviser.
Carries out the President's
foreign policies through the
State Department and the
Foreign Service of the US

Ambassadors oversee and Empowered heads of Uneven in skills and host

coordinate the activities of country teams- sent for each country influence
the Foreign Service Officers, country and one for UN
as well as representatives of
other U.S. agencies
operating within the foreign
country.

Foreign service Professionals Subject to instructions

Actions:

Engagement: Allows broad exchanges of Multiple voices, sometimes

views confusing or discordant

Negotiations Can achieve definitive Often time-consuming,

 23

agreements subject to domestic

pressures

Public diplomacy - Nonthreatening, potential Slow, hard to judge

(short-term) seeking
publicity of us policy
statements and favorable
coverage of events. (long
term) culture exchanges
nurture public appreciation
and understanding.
long-term benefits- bringing effectiveness
future leaders to extended
visits in the U.S. makes them
perhaps more sympathetic
and realistic towards
America.

Role of congress: Independent voice; can play Can confuse others

“bad cop” regarding U.S. positions

Culture: Professional, high value on Resists ruptures in relations

negotiations, comfortable
with ambiguity

● Identify and distinguish the economic instruments of foreign policy

Action: Executive Advantages: Disadvantages: Congressional

Agent: Role:

Sanctions President, Highly punitive Unintended Set by general

Department of when supported consequences, or country
Treasury, Office by others often ineffective specific law
of Foreign if unilateral
Assets Control
(OFAC)

Capital flows; Department of Few restraints Limited impacts International

currency the Treasury, on action in global Emergency
support- buy Federal Reserve economy Economic
and sell (the Fed) Powers Act,
currency in the money
foreign laundering laws,
exchange INternational
market. Ex- Monetary Fund
chinese selling contributions
their products
in US currency
because it’s
worth more and
would devalue
US dollar
otherwise

Foreign direct Committee on Assures control Political Broadened

investment Foreign pressures Committee on
Investment in frequent Foreign
 24

the U.S. reviews; Investment in

OFAC enforces the U.S. (CFIUS)
sanctions

Exports 19 agencies Popular support Little Review of major

promote; Dept for export coordination, arms exports,
of state runs promotion with complaints on basic law
munitions list; minor controls arms limits expired, no
Dept. of consensus on
Commerce runs renewal
commerce
control List;
OFAC issues
licenses

Imports Department of ITC review can Reduced Tariffs; quotas;

Commerce; reduce political presidential other
Customs; pressures discretion restrictions
International
Trade
Commission
(ITC) revie

Trade U.S Trade Important Authority Grants

agreements Representative outcomes when limited; lengthy negotiating
(USTR) achieved negotiations authority; single
negotiates: vote on trade
tariffs, quotas, agreements
non-tariff
barriers: ITC
review of
alleged
violations

Military aid Department of Valued support Unintended Appropriations;

state; to allies political many earmarks
Department of consequences
Defense

Economic aid Department of Appreciated May not be appropriations ;

State; U.S. economic effectively used many earmarks
Agency for support
International
Development;
Department of
Defense, +22
others

Development Department of Non Slow to achieve Appropriations;

aid State; U.S. Controversial results many earmarks
Agency for aid
International
 25

Development:
Millennium
Challenge Corp.
+22 others

Humanitarian Department of Noncontroversia Some Appropriations;

State; U.S. l aid unintended many earmarks
Agency for consequences
International
Development;
Department of
Defense

Multilateral Department of Professional Little U.S. Approves

the Treasury political benefit contributions
votes at
International
financial
institutions (IFIs)

Culture Each agency Good at core Hard to Tends to view

distinctive competencies coordinate economic
instruments
through
domestic lens

L34: The Military Instruments

● Identify and distinguish the military instruments of foreign policy
○ Secretary of Defense: principal defense policy advisor to the President.
Under the direction of the President, the Secretary exercises authority,
direction, and control over the Dep of Def.
○ Disadvantages: many tasks: managing pentagon, executing military
operations, etc
 26

● Weigh the legacy of a figure like Robert McNamara

○ Deflecting blame, blame avoidance. Offers 11 pieces of advice. “Fog of
War”. Emphasis on numbers. Removed humanity from the war.
 27

L36: Secret Intelligence Instruments

● Identify and distinguish the secret intelligence instruments of foreign policy
○ Collection: CIA old fashioned spying and NSA intercepts communications

● List the major agencies involved in secret intelligence

○ National Intelligence Agency
○ Central Intelligence Agency
○ Pentagon Management
○ National Security Agency
○ Office of Strategic services
 28

● Identify and distinguish the homeland security instruments of foreign policy

● Cybersecurity: Watch so that attackers can’t hack into computer systems and
destroy nuclear reactors, crash tranes, and hijack planes, disable banking.
● Disadvantage: A lot of other agencies already have large cyber divisions
 29

L37: The U.S. and International Organizations

● Recognize major international organizations, especially by function

● UN: Council/ organization made up of numerous nations

○ Advantages: Broad membership and experience
○ Disadvantages: Limited authority
● Recognize the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
○ Collection of 17 interlinked goals designed to be a "blueprint to achieve a
better and more sustainable future for all". The SDGs were set in 2015 by
the United Nations General Assembly and are intended to be achieved by
the year 2030. Ex: Goal 1: No poverty, Goal 2: Zero Hunger
 30

L39: Global Poverty and Foregin Aid

● Explain reasons for U.S. spending on foreign aid
○ Defend economic interests
○ National Security
○ Defend democracy and American ideals
○ Moral reasons
● Define extreme poverty and recognize number and portion of children living in
extreme poverty
○ Extreme poverty is welfare below $1.90 per person per day
○ 385 million children in extreme poverty; 56.2% are children
● Recognize the portion of U.S. spending on development aid and describe
disjuncture between American perceptions of spending on foreign aid and its
actual spending
○ Actually: 0.8%
○ Think: 26%
L40: Energy Policy and the Environment
● Discuss major problems facing U.S. energy policy
○ Irreversible damage
○ Time is running out
○ Expensive renewable energy
○ Cause has not been specifically identified - wicked problem
○ Collective action problem
● Describe major domestic and international institutions with agency over energy
and environmental policy
○ Environmental Protection Agency
○ US Department of Energy
● Identify sources for understanding both public opinion and scientific consensus
on energy and environmental topics
○ IPCC
L42: Making Better (American) Public Policy
● Describe at least one way to improve policymaking in the U.S.
 31

Essay Questions Framework

● A chart from one of the assigned reports on domestic policy;
○ What does that chart suggest regarding good policy in that arena? What might be
misleading about that chart? What counter arguments should you consider?
An Overview of Medicare -KFF

Young Person’s Guide to Social Security

 32

Educational Goods and Values: A framework

● U.S tax system infographic-

https://www.pgpf.org/infographic/infographic-how-the-us-tax-system-works
● The pressing policy problems, sources of information, and broad policy options regarding
a major topic in domestic policy (economic inequality/social mobility; social safety net;
fiscal policy; education policy; health policy);
● Economic inequality:
 33

○ Pressing policy problems: Is GDP the best measure of the health of the economy?
○ Sources of information: Inequality for All (2013), Raj Chetty’s American Dream,
Knapp Family NYT article
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/09/opinion/sunday/deaths-despair-poverty.html
○ Broad policy options: Taxing the top 1%, Revising tax system, eliminating tax
expenditures
● Social mobility
○ Pressing policy problems: Should the U.S promote social mobility?
○ Sources of information: Inequality for All, Raj Chetty’s American Dream,
Opportunity Insights
○ Broad policy options: Investing in human capital (education) to promote social
mobility, Incentives for social stability, such as insurance or dividends of profit
coming from economic growth could possibly be used to promote social mobility.
● Social safety net
○ Pressing policy problems: Baby Boomers (too many old people) and they are
living longer than 65, not enough young people to fund S.S. later
○ Sources of information: A Young Person’s Guide to Social Security, When All
Else Fails: The Government as the Ultimate Risk Manager
○ Broad policy options: Increase immigration, Increase age to receive social
security
● Fiscal Policy:
○ Pressing Policy Problems: Solving the National Debt, How to Improve the
Progressive Tax System
○ Sources of Information: Fiscal Ship, Tax Policy Center Briefing Guide: a
Citizen’s Guide
○ Broad Policy Options: Value Added Tax → difference between business sales
and purchases of goods & services from other services. Raises Revenue and
does not impinge on household saving. Covers all forms of consumptions
besides meds and food (Revenue ratio).
● Education Policy:
○ Pressing Policy Problems: Disparity of funding for public schools based on their
location, Difference in education by state/district
○ Sources of Information:
■ Harry Brighouse, Helen F. Ladd, Susanna Loeb, and Adam Swift,
“Educational Goods and Values: A Framework for Decision Makers,”
Theory and Research in Education 14, no. 1 (2016), 3-25.
■ Dana Goldstein, “‘It Just Isn’t Working’: PISA Test Scores Cast Doubt on
U.S. Education Efforts,” New York Times, 3 Dec. 2019, NCDPI Progress
Report
 34

○ Broad policy options: Equal Funding for schools, Nationalizing education,

Increase in teacher salaries, making schools competitive
● Health Policy:
○ Pressing Policy Problems: Lack of coverage due to high costs, No/ expensive
coverage for those with pre-existing conditions, Quality of health is no better than
other OECD countries.
○ Sources of Information:
■ An Overview of Medicare -Brief Issue - Kaiser Family
■ Ten things to Know about Medicaid -Issue Brief- KFF
■ Liu et al, “Effects of a Public Option on Health Insurance Costs and
Coverage,” Rand Corporation
○ Broad Policy Options: Expansion of ACA to include everyone + those with
pre-existing conditions, Universal healthcare, Reduce prescription drug costs,
Outsource medications from countries who produce it for less