PLCY/PWAD 101
Final Exam Study
Guide
Fall 2022
The ~three hour final exam will consist of about 15 minutes of multiple-choice questions, with
the rest short answer and essay questions. It is an open note. You’ll find all parts of the exam in
Sakai Tests and Quizzes. Because the test will come from random draws, no test will be
exactly the same.
For the final exam, you should be able to discuss and evaluate in essay-length detail:
● Charts from assigned reports on domestic and foreign policy;
● Cross-sector collaboration in a particular policy domain;
● 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/welfare policy; fiscal policy (esp. national debt); k-12 education policy; higher
education policy; “deaths of despair”; healthcare policy; public health policy;
immigration policy);
● The use, advantages, and disadvantages of the toolkits and instruments of foreign policy;
● The particular policy area that you wrote about for your policy brief
● 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.
Rohan
Suhailah
Eddy
Maisie
Understanding assessed by short answer questions:
Review from pre-midterm:
o What is and is not public policy (and what public policy ought and ought not cover)
▪ Definitions of public policy:
● Guy Peters: Public policy is the sum of government activities,
whether pursued directly or through agents, as those activities have
an influence on the lives of citizens.
● Goldsmith: Public policy harnesses institutions (whether public or
private, formal or informal) to address collective action problems.
● Public policy is an interdisciplinary academic endeavor that
centers problems instead of methodology, aiming not only to
describe policy problems but prescribe ways of addressing them.
▪ Public policy is not:
● Policy actions in the corporate world (by corporate players) that
does not affect the public as a whole
,o Stages model of the policy process
▪
o Streams model of the policy process
▪
o Behavioral psychology (including loss aversion) and why it matters for public policy
▪ Confirmation bias – the comfort of confirming what system 1
initially says as a reaction to something, such as a fact or belief
2
, ▪ What you see is all there is – Making assumptions off of what little
information you know before you receive anything else. System 1 quickly
jumps to a conclusion before system 2 can evaluate all parts
● Ex: Jane is a good leader based off of the qualities “personable
and intelligent” but the answer might change with the added
adjectives of “cruel and corrupt”
▪ Halo effects – Automatically associating good qualities with people
you like, and bad qualities with people you don’t like
▪ Loss aversion – People naturally want to avoid feeling like they’re going
to lose. They have to gain anywhere from 1.5 to 2.5 what they might lose
to make it seem rational to them. This can apply for cost-benefit analysis
or for blame-avoidance.
o Policy feedback (both positive and negative feedback)
▪ when policy influences politics, which then influences later policymaking
▪ Capture: public bureaucracies had become dominated by strong
and powerful interest groups
▪ Entrenchment: When a practice or habit becomes very common, so that
it is hard to avoid. For example, when creating policy, if an idea about the
program is established, it is hard to break or remove that idea after a
while.
● Ex. ACA
▪ Fog of enactment: when actors or policy makers are unsure of the
consequences of their policy
● “We have to pass this law, so you can find out what’s in it”
● The strengths and weaknesses of cost-benefit analysis
○ Strengths:
■ Helps us consider opportunity costs, trade-offs
■ Forces us to anticipate consequences, eps.. Non-gov costs and benefit
■ Transparency: Forces policymakers to be explicit about calculations
■ Utilitarian ethic -- consideration of aggregate welfare – aligns with many
democratic values
● How useful a policy is rather than how attractive it is to the public
■ “Statistical compassion”: policymaking through system 2 rather
than system 1 (geared towards “individual compassion”)
3
, ■ Can be a good tool for policy production
4
Final Exam Study
Guide
Fall 2022
The ~three hour final exam will consist of about 15 minutes of multiple-choice questions, with
the rest short answer and essay questions. It is an open note. You’ll find all parts of the exam in
Sakai Tests and Quizzes. Because the test will come from random draws, no test will be
exactly the same.
For the final exam, you should be able to discuss and evaluate in essay-length detail:
● Charts from assigned reports on domestic and foreign policy;
● Cross-sector collaboration in a particular policy domain;
● 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/welfare policy; fiscal policy (esp. national debt); k-12 education policy; higher
education policy; “deaths of despair”; healthcare policy; public health policy;
immigration policy);
● The use, advantages, and disadvantages of the toolkits and instruments of foreign policy;
● The particular policy area that you wrote about for your policy brief
● 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.
Rohan
Suhailah
Eddy
Maisie
Understanding assessed by short answer questions:
Review from pre-midterm:
o What is and is not public policy (and what public policy ought and ought not cover)
▪ Definitions of public policy:
● Guy Peters: Public policy is the sum of government activities,
whether pursued directly or through agents, as those activities have
an influence on the lives of citizens.
● Goldsmith: Public policy harnesses institutions (whether public or
private, formal or informal) to address collective action problems.
● Public policy is an interdisciplinary academic endeavor that
centers problems instead of methodology, aiming not only to
describe policy problems but prescribe ways of addressing them.
▪ Public policy is not:
● Policy actions in the corporate world (by corporate players) that
does not affect the public as a whole
,o Stages model of the policy process
▪
o Streams model of the policy process
▪
o Behavioral psychology (including loss aversion) and why it matters for public policy
▪ Confirmation bias – the comfort of confirming what system 1
initially says as a reaction to something, such as a fact or belief
2
, ▪ What you see is all there is – Making assumptions off of what little
information you know before you receive anything else. System 1 quickly
jumps to a conclusion before system 2 can evaluate all parts
● Ex: Jane is a good leader based off of the qualities “personable
and intelligent” but the answer might change with the added
adjectives of “cruel and corrupt”
▪ Halo effects – Automatically associating good qualities with people
you like, and bad qualities with people you don’t like
▪ Loss aversion – People naturally want to avoid feeling like they’re going
to lose. They have to gain anywhere from 1.5 to 2.5 what they might lose
to make it seem rational to them. This can apply for cost-benefit analysis
or for blame-avoidance.
o Policy feedback (both positive and negative feedback)
▪ when policy influences politics, which then influences later policymaking
▪ Capture: public bureaucracies had become dominated by strong
and powerful interest groups
▪ Entrenchment: When a practice or habit becomes very common, so that
it is hard to avoid. For example, when creating policy, if an idea about the
program is established, it is hard to break or remove that idea after a
while.
● Ex. ACA
▪ Fog of enactment: when actors or policy makers are unsure of the
consequences of their policy
● “We have to pass this law, so you can find out what’s in it”
● The strengths and weaknesses of cost-benefit analysis
○ Strengths:
■ Helps us consider opportunity costs, trade-offs
■ Forces us to anticipate consequences, eps.. Non-gov costs and benefit
■ Transparency: Forces policymakers to be explicit about calculations
■ Utilitarian ethic -- consideration of aggregate welfare – aligns with many
democratic values
● How useful a policy is rather than how attractive it is to the public
■ “Statistical compassion”: policymaking through system 2 rather
than system 1 (geared towards “individual compassion”)
3
, ■ Can be a good tool for policy production
4
