MPA Comp Exam - PADM 5010 (Public Administration & Society)correctly answered 2023

MPA Comp Exam - PADM 5010 (Public Administration & Society)correctly answered 2023Collective Action Problems (CAPs) 1. Problems that arise because individuals act in a rational self-interested manner. 2. When individuals cooperate and work as a group, the group will be better off but the individual may not be. In fact, the individual may be worse off than if they pursued their own interest. Thus, individuals have an incentive/reason to pursue their own interests. 3. Deciding between public vs. private interest 4. "[W]hen individually rational actions produce outcomes at the group level that do not appear to be very rational" (Bickers and Williams, 2001: p61). 2 Consequences of CAPs 1. Inefficiency (1st order problem) 2. Inequity (2nd order problem) Efficiency 1st order problems No wasted resources Graphically = Any point on the Production Possibility Frontier/Chart (PPF) Trade-offs/opportunity costs exist Be careful defining, need to know context of the topic (e.g., agency inefficiency vs. program vs. employee; whose preception - citizen, govt. agency, nonprofit, oversight, program director, receipient) Reality = always some sort of inefficiency, goal is to produce as little as possible Inefficiency Wasted Resources Any point inside the curve on a PPF Chart Equity 2nd order problems 2 categories: (1) procedural, and (2) substantive Procedural Equity Processes Legal terms = procedural due process 2 Critical Procedural Equity Issues Facing Public Administrators Fairness Equality Procedural Equity & Fairness Individuals should not be treated arbitrarily or randomly but by objective standards (i.e., legal system/rule of law) Fairness does not always equal equality Procedural Equity & Equality Application of law; not applied in any type of irrational, discriminatory way All people should be treated equally unless we have a good/rational reason not to treat people equally (e.g., driving, voting, and drinking age) Equality does not always equal fair Substantive Equity Outcomes Legal terms = substantive due process Given a societal output, how are the outputs distributed/re-distributed? 3 Categories: (1) Horizontal, (2) Vertical, and (3) Intergenerational Horizontal Substantive Equity Equals treated equally, even in terms of outcomes Ex - Flat tax; toll roads Vertical Substantive Equity Un-equals treated differently The difference is what justifies/rationalizes the reason for being treated differently Ex - Progressive taxes; public transit; financial aid eligibility; veteran preference; affirmative action) Intergenerational Substantive Equity Deciding how much future generations will pay for today's CAPs Public Interest vs Individual Interest Public - group defines benefits; group enjoys benefits but individual may not Private - individual defines cost/benefit; individual enjoys benefits; self-interest/individual preferences Key question facing Public Administrators (PAs): What is the Public Interest? 2 Types of Solutions to CAPs 1. Planned 2. Unplanned 2 Key Mechanisms to Solve CAPs 1. External Rules - used to constrain behavior and effect Collective Action (CA) 2. Individual Preferences - used to motivate CA 4 Sources of Solutions to CAPs 1. Hierarchies/governments (planned; external rules constrain; created to sovle CAPs) 2. Markets (unplanned; individual preferences) 3. Community/culture (unplanned; external rules; CAPs solved with reciprocity) 4. Self-governance (planned; individual preferences; EX - nonprofits or HOAs) Generic Solutions to CAPs (Bickers and Williams, 2001) 1. Repeated interaction between individuals (i.e., tit-for-tat strategy) (Strength: small, local scale) 2. Voluntary Cooperation (i.e., Robert Putam's "social capital") (Strength: voluntary, potentially less expensive; Weakness: not enough to solve CAPs) 3. Coercion (i.e., a government's legitmate use of force through taxes and regulations) (Strength: more effective than voluntary cooperation; Weakness: expensive; doesn't always work) 4. Institutions (i.e., co-production) Objectives of Government (Mintrom, 2012: Table 4.2, p57) To Promote: 1. Human flourshing 2. Effective Insitutions 3. Efficiency 4. Sustainability 5. Human RIghts 6. Social Equity Role/Purpose of Government (Dr. Collins lecture Fall 2016) Solve CAPs Improve efficiency and equity Deliver good/services Regulate the behavior of actors Attempt to change individual preferences and behaviors Correct market failures (i.e., problems with efficiency and equity) Types of Government Solutions to CAPs 1. Deliver Goods/Services (e.g., education, national security) 2. Regulate Behavior (e.g., licensing) 2 Decisions Governments Make About Goods/Service Delivery 1. Provision decisions (i.e., what's produced, how much, who pays, and who benefits) 2. Production decisions (i.e., transforming raw materials into final goods/services) Categories of Regulations 1. Non-coercive (e.g., horatory appeals, information provisions) Ex - Better Left Unread than Dead (texting and driving); food nutrition labels 2. Highly coercive (e.g., positive inducements, negative sanctions) Ex - Tax rebates; traffic fines 2 Limitations to Government Solutions to CAPs (aka government failures) 1. Democratic failures (i.e., accountability; some pathology that undermines government's ability to solve CAPs) 2. Policy failures (i.e., effectiveness' policy solutions don't solve problems and/or create new ones) Types of Democratic Failures Voting Failures Representation Failures Democratic Voting Failures Arrow's (im)possibility theorm (Bickers and Williams, 2001: p 38-39) Impossible to get everyone's preferences Implications: a voting parodox (i.e., voting not always reliable due to power of agenda setting) Voting at most tells us what society does NOT want Democratic Representation Failures What is basis of representation (i.e., geography [US], ethnicity, ideology, religion, sex/gender)? Does it ensure/represent the will of the public? What Principal-Agent Dilemma (i.e., lack of accountability; ideology slippage/divergent goals; rent-seeking behaviors) 2 Types of Policy Failures 1. Analytical 2. Bureaucratic Types of Analytical Policy Failures Does a techinical policy solution exist that improves efficiency and/or equity? If yes, can we identify best solution that minimize unintended consequences and doesn't make the situation worse? If no to all 3, then an analytical policy failure exists. Consequences of Analytical Policy Failures (Mintrom, 2012: 194-197) Provider Capture Perverse Incentives Goal Displacement Insitutional Inertia Provider Capture "serving the interests of providers over consumers" (Mintrom, 2012: 194) Regulation of industries as a "gatekeeper" (i.e., professional licensing) (Mintrom, 2012: 194) When "entry of firms into industries is heavily regulaated" (Mintrom, 2012: 194) Perverse Incentives An incentive that has an unintended and undesirable effect, that is against the interest of the incentive makers. Reward structures that lead to suboptimal outcomes by stimulating counterproductive behavior Ex - long-term use of government assistance programs (e.g., SNAP, Medicaid, Unemployment Insurance) For example, a single mother of 2 with no job recieves housing assistance, SNAP, and Medicaid (total monthly value $2,000: $1000 for housing, $500 for SNAP, and $500 for Medicaid). Now, the same single mother working 40 hours at minimum wage ($7.25) earns about $1,250 (gross) but only qualifies for CHIP (a $250 value). Thus, she has a perverse incentive not to work because her income is approximately $500 more than if she were working full-time. Goal dispacement "When the incentives created in an organizational environment lead people to narrow the focus of their activities and devote their energies to manipulating the measurement" (Mintrom, 2012: 195). Ex. - Schools finding creative ways to exempt low performing students from exams like the STAAR test or college entrance exams "most likely to occur when...the work being performed is hard for supervisors to observe and when the incentives for cheating are hard" (Mintrom, 2012: 195). "consequence of establishing perverse incentives" (Mintrom, 2012; 195). Institutional Interia Related to path dependency How do policies and/or new technologies "constrain progress" (Mintrom, 2012: 196)? Types of Bureaucratic Policy Failures Arises when legislatures enable a solution, delegate power to a specific agency, but the process of delegation causes a problem (e.g., principal-agent dilemma, or implementation failure) 2 Consequences of Delegation 1. Principal-agent dilemma 2. Implementation failure Principal-Agent Dilemma Problems arise when there is (1) goal conflict, and (2) information asymmetry Agent = elected official, public administrators Principals = citizens, customers, constituents Goal Conflict Principal and agent have diveregent goals Information asymmetry When one party (usually the agent) has more information than the other Agency Loss Goal Conflict + Information Asymmetry = Agency Loss Differnce between Principal's optimal outcomem and actual consequences of Agent's actions 3 Consequences of Agency Loss 1. Operational inefficiency