POLICY SOLUTIONS

Finding the Right Policy Option

The Rational Decision Making Process

1. Define problem to be solved

2. Gather all the facts

3. Construct alternative solutions (based on all facts)

4. Scientifically analyze alternatives

5. Select the one best alternative

I. Can we agree on the problem?• Our streets and highways are congested—Why?

• A. Not enough public transportation• B. Inadequate and poorly designed highways and streets• C. Too many cars with only one occupant• D. Gasoline is too cheap, parking is too easy• E. City is too spread out

• In Houston we are always trying to find new ways to accommodate more cars. This is what the public expects.

Not easy to agree on the problem• But traffic issues in Houston while difficult are simply

compared to:

• why we do not get better results from our public schools,• why health care costs are so expensive in America,• why we have air pollution,• if we have global warming,• and the role the US should play in the Middle East.

II. We need facts we can agree on, but what is a fact?

• How do we define poverty and how do we know if poverty is too high?

• How do we know which competing economic theory is correct?

• What does it mean to say that too many American do not have health care coverage? How do we define too many?

• How do we know when something is true when our knowledge is limited? Example: global warming.

Bounded Rationality• Refinement of the assumption of rationality• Bounded rationality = individuals intend to be rational,

but are limited due to cognitive, time, and information limits.

– Herbert Simon (1947): “It is impossible for the behavior of a single, isolated individual to reach any high degree of rationality. The number of alternatives he must explore is so great, the information he would need to evaluate them so vast, that even an approximation to objective rationality is hard to conceive.”

III. How do we agree on all the alternative solutions?

• A. Some solutions can be very controversial and basically off the table

• Legalize or decriminalize some drugs• Legalize, decriminalize and/or regulate prostitution• Allow adult men and women to have more than one

legal partner. • B. Some solutions might be too expensive to consider• C. We may fear that some “solutions” only encourage

people to behave in dysfunctional ways-moral hazard • D. Some might discriminate against certain groups—

profiling, no clothing that covers the face or head scarfs or head coverings in certain places

IV. Scientifically analyze?• Impact of global warming—how do you measure it?

• Impact of secondary smoke

• When life begins (easily answered by people my age). Its when the kids move out of the house and the dog dies.

• Impact of death penalty on murder rate

• Impact of fines (of what level) on all kinds of behavior

• We really do not have uncontested hard data on many issues.

V. How easy is it to select the best alternative?

• Often there is one group or another opposed to all of the various policy options.

• Often the selected option is the least worst option—that is the one that the most people will accept but no one is really happy with or some blend of what opposing groups want.

• Often the selected solution is the one opposed by the weakest group (even if it may be the best option), or the one favored by the most powerful group.

Selecting the Best Solution: Goal Conflict

Immigration: What is the Causal Story?

What’s the problem? What causes it?

Who is responsible? What needs to change?

A Common Policy Problem: Placing a Landfill

• Americans generate tons of trash (e.g., paper, food scraps, plastics, metals, and yard wastes)

• Disposing of this waste is a continuing problem of local governments

• Most municipal wastes are disposed of in landfills

Placing a Landfill• Landfills must be built according to federal regulations•

• Cannot conflict with preservation of wetlands • No leaching of hazardous substances • Local ordinances often restrict visual pollution as well

• However, even when these conditions are met, often see the “NIMBY” syndrome

NIMBY Syndrome• “Not in my

backyard!”

• We may generate trash, but we don’t want landfills near our homes

Landfill Exercise

• Imagine that we are the Commissioners Court of a hypothetical “Columbus County”

• Three prospective sites for a new landfill have been identified.• Each has some advantages and disadvantages

• After reviewing the details of each site, the Commissioners Court must vote on the site for the new landfill

Site #1: Central City Railroad Gravel Pit

• Located 32 miles away from town

• Consists of 1,800 acres on the bluffs overlooking the River Flood plain.

• It is owned by the Central City Railroad Company, which once used it as a gravel quarry. Although no gravel has been mined for 45 years, the roads, which were built to support the weight of gravel trucks, are still in good shape.

• Since the company has no more need for gravel, it finds the maintenance, security expense, and taxes to be a burden. It is willing to sell the site for the relatively low price of $400 per acre.

• The bluffs overlooking the flood plain had been a favorite camping place for Native Americans who once lived there. While the site was being used as a quarry, numerous Native American artifacts were discovered in the gravel.

Site #2: Farm in Rocky River

• About 6 miles east of town

• Consist of 1550 acres of which 700 are planted with corn and soybeans, which grow well in the fertile soil.

• The site is jointly owned by 31 descendants of a pioneer farm family. Most of them live outside Central City. None of them owns more than a one-sixth interest in the property. They rent the land to farmers. The owners want to sell the property because their individual shares are so small.

• Since the farmland is productive, they are asking $1,400 per acre.

• The farm is served by dirt roads that would need reinforcement.

• Some small part of the land has been contaminated by spilled pesticides, and by fuels and oils that have leaked from tractor storage areas.

Site #3: Along Valentine Falls Rd.

• Located 8 miles northwest of Central City

• Consists of 800 acres of woodland

• Valentine Falls is a residential development on the west shore of Valentine Falls Reservoir.

• The houses in Valentine Falls , ranging from $75,000 to $125,000 in price, are used as both weekend houses and full-time residences.

• The site is owned by Central City National Bank, which had lent money to a developer to build the houses. The plans fell through. The bank had to foreclose on the mortgage and is now anxious to dispose of the property for $800 per acre.

The Potential Locations• Site #1: Central City Railroad Gravel Pit—32 miles/1800

acres.

• Site #2: Farm in Rocky River---6 miles/1550 acres.

• Site #3: Along Valentine Fall Road—8 miles/800 acres.

Public Hearing on Landfill Site• At a public hearing held before Columbus County

Commissioners Court, citizens voice concerns about each of the proposed locations.

• G.T. Baker, manager of public works for Columbus County, presented an over view of the three sites.

• About 15 people testified before an estimated audience of 75.

• The meeting was marked by sharp disagreement.

• The commissioners agreed to announce their decision at the next regularly scheduled meeting.

Testimony of Gary and Sabrina WebbFarm Owners, near Rocky River Farm Site

• Gary and Sabrina Webb, who own a farm adjacent to the Rocky River site, were vehement in their objection to it.

 

• The Webbs produce corn and soybeans and questioned the wisdom of turning the good agricultural land into a landfill.

• They argued that the county economy would lose the value of the crops. And with the property removed from the tax rolls, county revenue would be lost.

Testimony of Professor Parker

“Save our State” Environmental Group

• Professor Parker of the State University testified as a member of “Save Our State,” an informal coalition of environmentalists and others wishing to preserve our natural and historical heritage.

• Professor Parker called for a full natural and historical survey of the Central City Railroad site because of the Native American artifacts found there.

•

• She also mentioned the unique flora at the base of the bluffs. These ferns and mosses, found nowhere else in the region, are fed by springs created by percolation water.

Testimony of John W. HewittValentine Falls Homeowners Association

• John W. Hewitt, representing the Valentine Falls Homeowners Association brought a petition signed by all 88 homeowners, strongly protesting the selection of the Valentine Falls Road site.

• Homeowners in the area fear that a landfill would have terrible effect on their quality of life and property values.

Testimony of G.T. Baker Manager of public works for County

• Mr. Baker said that the main costs in landfill operations are equipment, transportation, and wages, which all depend upon how close the landfill is to the city.

• • Longer trips cause more wear and tear on the

trucks. Workers get paid to these long rides, and county fuel costs go up.

• Since the Rocky River Farm site is located closer to Central City than either of the other two sites under consideration, he estimated that choosing that site would save the county approximately $15 million over a 10-year period, even with a higher initial purchase price for the land.

Where should the landfill be located?

Site #1

Old Central City Railroad Gravel Pit

Site #2

Farm in Rocky River Bottom

Site #3

Along Valentine Falls Road

Similar Current Debate in Houston• Town Hall Meeting discussing “Rail on Richmond” Proposal

Selecting the Best Solution: The Impact of Issue or Elite Networks

• Established policy groups that focus on an issue often over long periods of time—farmers, pharmaceutical companies, energy companies, etc.

• Models• Iron triangles • Policy networks

• Instead of unified policymaking, government tends to simply endorse decisions made by these sub-governments.

Example: Agricultural Policy• Agriculture groups are well-organized, and they have

organized and funded long-standing lobbying organization.

• They have a close relationship with the agency that is supposed to both promote and regulate them—the Department of Agriculture

• A fair number of members of Congress represent and live in states in which agriculture is one of the main industries, sometimes the primary industry

Agriculture• Public officials in these areas depend upon citizens and

groups in the agricultural field to assist with their election and reelection.

• The public officials see that the agriculture interest get what they need and in turn they receive the support they need to stay in office.

• This is a perpetual motion machine.

Selecting the Best Solution: Fragmentation of Government

• Advantages• Greater # of actors leads to more deliberation and

representation

• More opportunities for innovation and fewer errors

• Multiple entry points (venue shopping)•

• School finance (legislative vs. judicial approaches)• Anti-smoking ordinances (state vs. federal)• Anti-obesity efforts (health policy, school policy, farm policy)

Fragmentation: Good or Bad?

• Disadvantages

• Gridlock due to fragmentation of power

• Incoherent policies

• Policy conflict: US government subsidizes tobacco farmers• • USDA and anti-smoking interventions led by CDC/Surgeon General

Selecting the Best Solution: How Incrementalism Plays a Role

• Policy and Decision-making complexity and conflict• usually leads to policy incrementalism.• • This means that policies evolve over time in small

increments.

• This is especially true where the policy issues are complex, costly or changing over time.

Incrementalism (branch approach)

• Small adjustments to current policies• Result of policymakers “muddling through” (Lindbloom 1959)

Root approach to policymaking:

• First come to agreement on policy goals

• Compare effects of every alternative

• Choose more efficient means to the agreed-upon end

Branch approach to policymaking:

• Consider each new problem in light of what has been done before

• Prioritization of goals throughout the process

• Consider smaller set of more feasible options

• Choose the best policy, which is the compromise that everyone (or enough people) can agree to

Why is it so hard to enactlarge-scale reforms in the US?

The Whole Process is Biased toward the Status Quo

• Stems from:• Fragmented institutions-two chamber Congress,

Executive, judiciary• Vested interests—often rich in expertise, connections

and money• Ideological conflict—options have moral overtones• Issue complexity and conflict —very difficult to find the

best approach

• As a result, policy change is often stymied or incremental

INCREMENTALISM & NATIONAL HEALTH

REFORM

Almost a century of failed reform efforts…

Source: New York Times Interactive Feature, 7/19/09

Almost a century of failed reform efforts…

Source: New York Times Interactive Feature, 7/19/09

Almost a century of failed reform efforts…

Source: New York Times Interactive Feature, 7/19/09

Incrementalism

Source: New York Times Interactive Feature, 7/19/09

Almost a century of failed reform efforts…

Source: New York Times Interactive Feature, 7/19/09

Almost a century of failed reform efforts…

Source: New York Times Interactive Feature, 7/19/09

Almost a century of failed reform efforts…

Source: New York Times Interactive Feature, 7/19/09

Another incremental change

Source: New York Times Interactive Feature, 7/19/09

More incrementalism

Source: New York Times Interactive Feature, 7/19/09

And now, another attempt at reform…

Source: New York Times Interactive Feature, 7/19/09

And then, broader reform in 2010

Source: New York Times Interactive Feature, 04/04/10