Pub 300 Chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 5, 9, 10

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What is public administration concerned with?: The management of public programs
Name 4 distinct features of public administration.: Committment to public service, Pursuit of democratic values, Balancing multiple objectives, and Role of ethics
What defines public administration?: democratic values, ambiguity of goals, and high visibility
What is democracy?: Government of the people, for the people, and by the people
What are 3 cultural values in democracy?: Individualism, Equality, and Liberty
What are the three branches? (Separation of powers): Legislative, Executive, and Judicial
What are the similarities between business and public organizations?: hierarchical structure, management, optimal organizational design, allocating scarce resources, people management
What are the differences between business and public organizations?: Goals, Ambiguity, Pluralistic decision making, Visibility, and Publicness
Define individualism: The idea that dignity and integrity of the individual is of supreme importance
Define Equality: Each individual has the equal claim to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness
Define Liberty: Freedom. Comes with a set of responsibilities
What is the role of the executive branch?: It provides efficiency, and implementats policies
What is the role of the legislative branch?: It provides the policy-making function
What is the role of the judicial branch?: It provides interpretation of laws. Make sure laws are implemented correctly
How do businesses and public organizations differ in their goals?: Business = profit making, Pub Orgs = regulate social order and pursue democratic values (no profit in this)
How do businesses and public organizations differ in their ambiguity?: There are no clear goals/objectives in pub orgs.
How do businesses and public organizations differ in their decision making?: Business = decision making at the top, pub orgs = large # of people involved (pluralistic decision making)
How do businesses and public organizations differ in their visibility?: pub orgs are always in public eye and under constant scrutiny. This limits freedom of action.
How do businesses and public organizations differ in their publicness?: pub orgs = pub interests publicly arrived at are of greatest importance. Decision making is open to public scrutiny
What are the dilemmas of public administration?: The bureaucracy-democracy puzzle, the dichotomy of politics and administration, accountability, and efficiency vs. responsiveness
Describe the dichotomy of politics and administration: Woodrow Wilson stated that politics and administration cannot be combined. Policies must be done by politicians, but implemented by political-neutral parties. In practice, usually see a meshing of the two
What needs to be done to ensure accountability in public administration?: have a strong subjective sense of responsibility on part of administrators, high professional standards need to be instituted, desire for stronger ethics for public servants, creation of structural controls by the system, have legislators directly involved in policy implementation, substantial legislative review, have significant public participation in policy implementation, and have closer interaction of public administrators through public view alignment
Describe the bureaucracy-democracy connundrum: Democracy vs. Bureaucracy:
Importance of individual decision making vs. Values the work of many together
Equality vs. Hierarchy
Participative decision making vs. Top-down decision making
What is efficiency?: Done quickly at the least cost
What is responsiveness?: May not be done quick or at the least cost. Responds to citizens
Describe efficiency vs. responsiveness: High speed of action will affect responsiveness. Having public participation is not efficient. Administrators have to work at some balance. There is no absolute soliution
What are the three skills that all managers need according to Katz's 1974 study?: Conceptual skills, Technical skills, and Human skills
What are conceptual skills?: The ability to visualize the larger picture of an organization. See it as a whole, how the parts fit, how each affects each other, and see it's interaction with it's environment
Which skill is required most at the top level of management?: Conceptual skills
What are technical skills?: knowing the methods, processes, and techniques to accomplish a task
What skill is the most important at the level of supervisors?: Technical skills
What are human skills?: Personal/interpersonal skills. The ability to work with others and in a group
What skill is required at all levels?: Human skills
What are the two big questions in the political context of public administration?: The relationship between public administrators with other members of executive, judiciary, and legislature and how are policies designed and put into effect
What is the Executive Order of the President?: A mandate of the president that has the effects of law. Used to direct officials/agencies in their work.
Name administrative organizations: Executive office of the president, cabinet-level deparments, presidential cabinet, independent agencies, regulatory commissions, public corporations, and supportive administrative agencies
What does the Executive Office of the President do? Give an example: Assists and advises the president. Ex. OMB - helps prepare and administer budget, reviews structure and management of govt agencies
Describe cabinet-level departments: Each department is headed by a secretary, who is a presidential appointee. All are headquartered in Wash D.C. These are the arms of the presidential mandate
Name the cabinet-level departments (15 in all): Departments of Defense, Health and Human Services, Treasury, Agriculture, Interior, Transportation, Justice, Commerce, State, Labor, Energy, Housing and Urban Development, Education, Veterans Affairs, and Homeland Security
Describe the Presidential Cabinet: It includes cabinet-level secretaries, ambassador to the U.N and director of OMB. It is a personal preference of the president
What are independent agencies?: Created outside the normal cabinet organization
What are regulatory commissions?: They are designed to regulate particular areas of activity. They need to regulate with independence and objectivity. They are headed by individuals appointed by the president, but must be ratified by Senate. Are sometimes located inside a department
What are public corporations?: They have a commercial objective. They may get some funding from the market. (Ex. USPS, Amtrak)
What are Supportive Administrative Agencies?: They are agencies that support the work of the legislature and the judiciary
What is autocracy?: Government by one
What is oligarchy?: Government by the few
What are policy analysts?: Persons who provide important information about public programs through research into the operations and impacts of the programs
What are program managers?: Persons ranging from executive level to the supervisory level who are in charge of particular governmental programs
What are staff managers?: Persons who support the work of program managers through budgeting and financial management, personnel and labor relations, and purchasing and procurement
What is a policy?: A statement of goals and intentions about particular programs with detailed plans
What is public policy?: Authoritative statements by legitimate actors in the government on public problems. Reflects what the agency decides to do and not to do
Who are the 3 important policy actors?: Policy entrepreneurs, public organizations, and non-profit organizations
How are policy entrepreneurs important policy actors?: They invest time and money in pursuit of policy changes
How are public organizations important policy actors?: They have a vested interest in policy change. They implement policies and help write policy proposals, provide testimony and expert advice, and are involved in clarifying legislative intent
How are non-profit organizations important policy actors?: They spread info about policies that generate mass public opinion, try to influence policy makers, and sometimes employ lobbyists
What is policy process?: Activities and actions recquired to solve public problems
What are the stages in the policy process?: Agenda setting, policy formulation, and policy implementation
What is agenda setting and what does it include?: It assesses wheter action is required or not. It includes policy recognition, policy generation, and political action
What is policy recognition?: Sorting out important issues. Getting feedback on current programs sought or generating info on new programs
What is policy generation?: Solutions sought that address problems and have to be politically correct
What is political action?: Finding conditions for agreement. Legislators in support of policy will seek others in support
What is policy formulation?: It's the designing stage when legislation, executive order, and administrative rules will be written about the policy. It's the actual defining of policy. Where lots of political activity occurs. Iron triangles or subgovernments (alliances) happen. More effort is used to influence policy. Frequent and strong coalitions between 3 actors: interest groups, agency personnel, and members of Congress
What is policy implementation?: It's the activation stage.
What is there a lot of room for administrative discretion in the policy implementation stage?: Because legislature cannot define all fine points and have to leave room for implementors. Managers fill in the gaps.
Name the four types of policy?: Regulatory, Distributive, Redistributive, and Constituent
What are regulatory policies?: They limit the scope of action. Designed to change behavior. Ex. Crime law and drug enforcement
What are distributive policies?: They provide services to the public at large through provisional public goods, grants, or subsidies
What are redistributive policies?: They are designed to redistribute wealth (tax some groups, give to others) geared toward particular groups (ex. health care, social welfare)
What are constituent policies?: They serve the public (ex. defense and foreign policy) and serve the government (legislation that affects the structure and functioning of government)
What is the role of bureaucratic power in the policy process?: They provide expertise, administrative discretion, and agency power
What are the structural controls in legislative supervision?: Legislative veto, broad legislation for agency conduct, sunset laws, and sunshine laws
What is legislative veto?: Any action proposed by an executive on any policy subject to approval/disapproval of Congress withing 30-60 days
What are sunset laws?: Certain programs must be terminated unless given new lease of life by Congress. It aims to force the evaluation of programs
What are the downsides of sunset laws?: It is a costly process, is a burden to legislative staff, and questions the effectiveness of sunset laws
What are sunshine laws?: They prescribe that agency work must be done in the public eye. Many agency meetings have to be open to the public, with reasonable notice of time given, and minutes maintained
Name ways that the legislature exercises legislative supervision?: government operations committees, congressional hearings, staff evaluations of programs, and case work
Name the seven forms of judicial structures: Rule making, administrative procedures act, "Chevron" doctrine, concern for due process, mediation and arbitration, direct involvement of federal district courts, and judicial review of decisions
What is rule-making? (judicial structure): After a hearing, judiciary decides guidelines that the administration must follow in the future in policy cases
What is the administrative procedures act? (judicial structure): It examines if things are done according to rules and gives adequate notice to be cognizant
What is the "Chevron" doctrine? (judicial structure): It states that if legislative direction is not adequate, administrator's interpretation must be upheld. The judiciary will examine action to see if it's permissible with existing laws
Explain the concern for due process (judicial structure): To protect citizens' rights
What is mediation and arbitration of the judiciary also known as?: alternate dispute resolution
How do governors exert pressure on the executive?: Through veto legislation or line-item veto, reorganizing state agencies, and exercising power through elected officials
What is line-item veto?: You don't have to approve or disapprove the whole act, you can veto a certain part
What are the structures at the local level?: cities, counties, native american tribes, special purpose government, and non-profit or independent sector
What are the three kinds of structures for organization of cities?: Mayor-council, council-manager, and commission
What is the mayor-council model?: Both mayor and council are elected. Used in 49% of all cities. Usually found in large cities. Ensures higher degree of responsiveness
What is the Council-Manager model?: Elected council, appointed manager. Usually in mid-size cities. Manager is responsible for the executive task and only has a ceremonial role. Used in 42% of cities
What is the commission model?: Elected officials are in charge of particular parts of government
Describe the counties role in government: They provide services n behalf of the states or services that cannot be provided by individual municipalities of the state (ex. water disposal, mas transit)
Describe the Native American tribes relationship with government: They have the right to use land and be sovereign in their affairs. They cannot sell their land without permission of the federal government. It is a guardian relationship
What are the two types of special purpose governments?: special districts (ex. school districts) and public, non-profit corporations
Describe the non-profit or independent sector: They are influential in affecting policy at the local level, are prohibited to distribute profit to it's members, have intermixed sources of funding, are tax-exempt, profits must be used for purposes of the organization, meant to protect public interest
What are the different kinds of non-profit or independent sector organizations?: public benefit organizations, advocacy organizations, mutual benefit organizations (only benefit it's members), and churches
What is cohesion?: The degree to which members of a group are uniformly committed to the group and its goals
What is an iron triangle?: Term given to a coalition of interest groups, agency personnel, and members of Congress created to exert influence on a particular policy issue
What is Ombudsman?: Permanent office that receives complaints and acts on behalf of citizens to secure information, request services, or pursue grievances
What is regulatory policy?: Policy designed to limit actions of person or groups to protect all or parts of the general public
Effectiveness of public programs depend upon what?: The ability of agents to cooperate in the delivery of service
What is intergovernmental relations?: Relations between different levels of government
What is intergovernmental management?: Focusing on managerial aspects involved in intergovernmental relations
Name the three different forms of intergovernmental relationships: Confederation, Unitary system, and Federal System
What is a confederation relationship?: The constituency units grant powers to central government. The central government does not have the power to act independently
What is a unitary relationship?: All powers reside with the central government. Subnational governments receive specific orders. Powers are at the top level of central government
What is a federal relationship?: The sharing of powers between levels of government (central and state governments) The central govt has power for interstate commerce, foreign affairs, etc. States have elections and constitute local bodies. Shared powers = law making and tax collection
What are grants?: They are transfers of money from one level of govt to another
Name the 11 types of grants: categorical, block, formula, project, closed-ended, open-ended, matching, non-matching, entitlement, operating, and capital
What are categorical grants?: Funds must be spent for a narrowly defined purpose
What are block grants?: The money is targeted to a broad functioning area. Within the area, recipients are free to use money for the purpose they like
What are formula grants?: They are based on a predetermined formula. The money is allocated to different jurisdictions
What are project grants?: The recipient must complete a proposal to receive the grant
What are closed-ended grants?: A fixed amount of money to be distributed
What are open-ended grants?: No such fixed amount has been predetermined
What are matching grants?: It recquires the recipient to match the money given with it's own resources. Used as a way to minimize waste. Will be less wasteful of it's own resources
What are non-matching grants?: No such requirements imposed on the recipients
What are entitlement grants?: Assistance given to individuals meeting a particular criteria
What are operating grants?: Funds made available for the operation of projects and development of projects
What are capital grants?: Money given for construction or renovation
What are the reasons grants are given?: to bring states to a minimum desired level of services, to equalize needs and resources, to correct externalities, and to promote
What are the effects of grants?: waste of money, increase in government spending, has a centralizing effect, increase policy influence of central government
What are the models of federalism?: Nation-centered, State-centered, dual federalism aka layer federalism, cooperative-federalism aka "marble-cake federalism", creative federalism aka picket-fence federalism, Nixon-Ford version, Carter Version, Reagan-Bush version, Clinton's new federalism, and the Bush version
What is nation-centered federalism?: the national government is the dominant force in the federal system
What is state-centered federalism?: states are dominant force in the federal system
What is dual federalism or layer federalism?: Each government is supreme in it's area of activity. There is a competition between governments. Govts worked parallel with each other and never together
What is Cooperative federalism or Marble cake federalism?: A mismash of activities. Each level of govt cooperating with one another.
What is creative federalism?: Envisioned partnership of different governments and with private industry
What is picket-fence federalism?: When aid is given to specific programs, the professionals dominate over horizontal divisions between national, state, and local govts. Functioning bureaucracies at different levels of government become main sources of power
What is the Nixon-Ford version of federalism?: envisioned highly interdependent systems with focus on states. Was a shift from categorical grants to block grants
What is the Carter version of federalism?: A greater dependency of state governments on federal funding. A return to categorical grants
What is the Reagan-Bush version of federalism?: A subnational government view. Sought to curb federal government. General revenue sharing was too much money and too much discretion. Returning funding to states (Reagan "turnbacks", Bush "turnover"). Supply-side economy - taxes reduced, consumer spending and capital spending up, increases economy without federal funding and federal regulation
What is the Clinton's New federalism version?: Significant subnational bias. States must have freedom to shape policies based on their needs. Shifted decision making to states and local levels. Collapsed categorical grants into more flexible block grants so subnational levels had flexibility in using federal money. Wanted to end unfunded mandates
What is the Bush version of federalism?: An emphasis on market based models of service delivery. Creates partnerships with private sector and nonprofits. Allow the young to privately invest in social security and medical for elderly. Decentralized programs by using faith-based and community organizations for providing social services by giving them access to federal funds.
What are the determinants of the federal-state relations of subnational governments?: grants, preemptions, judicial activism, and mandates
What are preemptions?: Federal government efforts to preempt an area traditionally associated with state government. Causes the local governments to do things in a certain way
What has the role of judicial activism done for federal-state relations?: It has moved the federal government into traditional subnational levels
Describe mandates: They are statements, statutes, or administrative directives that compel subnational levels to do what they would not otherwise do.
What are the two kinds of mandates?: Direct orders and conditions of aid
What are conditions of aid?: Conditions that come attached to grants or aid that states and local govts must follow to receive aid
What are direct orders?: requirements or restrictions enforced by one government upon another.
What are the two varieties of conditions of aid?: Cross-cutting requirements (apply to many different programs) and program specific.
What are the determinants of state-local intergovernmental relations?: Dillon's rule, Charters, Mandates, state aid to local governments, state regulation of local activity, and state-level advisory commissions
What is Dillon's rule?: It allowed for state control over all but a narrow range of local activities
What is home rule?: Provides local governments autonomy
What are charters?: They specify contract between state and local governments.
What are the three types of charters?: special, general, and classified
What are special charters?: State govt prepares different charter with each local government
What are general charters?: The same charter for all local governments
What are classified charters?: Cities categorized into classes. Different charters for different classes of cities (class A and class B)
What are the mandates role at the state-local level?: localities mostly obtain mandates in form of direct orders.
What are the reasons for regulative activities by states?: Uniformity within state and to ensure certain minimum standards
Explain state-state relations (5): Recquires that states recognize rights of citizens in other states. States must give full faith and credit to legal proceedings and public acts of other states. Relationship characterized by conflicts. Competition between states for private projects. Cooperation over technology
Explain local-local intergovernmental relations (6): People live, work, shop in different areas. Informal cooperation between cities. Coucil of govts to serve oversight function. Partnerships between local govts. Cut across city boundaries to solve cross-boundary problems. Problem solving through mediation of higher governments.
What are the advantages of privatization?: Expected more personal attention to citizens, programs not belonging to government can be moved out of governments, many private or NGOs competing for service (reduce price, increase quality), private provision associated with greater efficiency
What are the disadvantages of privatization?: Firms try to "cream" easy cases and ignore the harder ones, NGOs seen to cut corners in the delivery of services, The service aspect is ignored, Reduction in caseload stopped materializing
What are ways to partner with NGOs?: grants and subsidies, creation of franchises, and a voucher system
What is the role of grants in NPOs?: NPOs are highly dependent on grants. Typically project grants.
What is coproduction?: Using volunteer activity to supplement or supplant the work of government officals
What are councils of government?: Oversight bodies representing various localities to help coordinate local affairs
What is negotiated investment strategy?: Bringing together representatives of all affected groups to set priorities for funding
What is ethics?: a branch of philosophy concerned with moral principles and moral action. Involves the search for moral standards and to act on those standards. It involves the use of reason to determine the proper course of action
What is morality?: practices and actions considered right or wrong for a group. Expresses the values that are important to a group
What is moral action?: The individual acts consistent with what they know to be the right course and action.
What is ethical relativism?: Actions that are immoral in some place/circumstances and moral in other places/circumstances. It is the context that determines what is moral and immoral. No universal rules of conduct
What is ethical deliberation?: A skill that public administrators develop to work on ethical dilemmas
What is needed to develop ethical deliberation?: practice and capacity to reflect
What are the three steps in ethical deliberation: Clarify the facts, arrive at basic principles, and clearly identify conflicting arguments and provide alternative viewpoints
What are the three approaches to ethical reasoning?: moral philosophy, moral psychology, and moral action
What is moral philosophy?: Asks the questions how do we know what is right and wrong? HOw do we know what the right course of action is?
What are the two approaches of moral philosophy?: Utilitarianism and Deontological theory
What is Utilitarianism?: The greatest good for the greatest number. If the action has negative consequences, then the least harm to the less number of people. There are no universal principles. Believers in ethical relativism. Costs and benefits need to be evaluated
What is the deontological theory?: Public decisions must always be guided with fairness and equity. There are universal rules of conduct which will guide us in knowing whether it's right or wrong. Man must follow his duty. No relativism
In moral psychology, what are the three stages of moral development?: Preconventional, conventional, and post-conventional
What is the preconventional stage?: Individuals behave in a certain way out of their concern for consequences. Rewards and punishments are the guiding force
What is the conventional stage?: Things are done out of the desire to conform to standards. Trying to do the right thing based on conformity
What are the two stages involved with the conventional stage?: good boy/nice girl stage and good citizen stage
What is the good boy/nice girl stage?: Seek to meet expectations of those close to them (Parents, peers, teachers)
What is the good citizen stage?: Try to conform to the law and order. Accept conventions and rules of their society and try to conform. Honor and duty is important
What is the post-conventional stage?: Few manage to reach this level. Individuals follow the right course of action because of the understanding of rightness.
What are the two stages in the post-conventional stage?: social contract stage or legalistic stage and the highest stage of moral development
What is the social contract stage or legalistic stage?: individual recognizes the rights of others and understands why they do the right things
Describe the highest level of moral development: Freely choose choice of action. Understanding of rightness of abstract concepts
What is practical wisdom?: Skill of ethical decision making that comes through practice. Developed by Aristotle
What is Cooper's argument regarding moral action?: Virtues are traits of character that are acquired through reflection and conduct.
What are the 7 kinds of ethical dilemmas: Administrative responsibility, Strong ethical dilemma in council-manager system, Following orders, Privatization, Conflict of Interest, Whistleblowers dilemma, and Sued for actions in course of offical duty
What is administrative responsibility?: Trying to align admionistration to the wishes of the citizens
What are the dilemmas in administrative responsibility?: the tension between efficiency and responsiveness, using the right amount of administrative discretion, the guidelines are hazy, administrator's job is to narrow down policy - is actually making legislation, Should the administrator blindly respond to the demands of a legislator?
What is neutral competence of the bureaucracy?: Bureaucrats are hired for technical skills, competence to implement mandates, and are neutral because they are not chose on a partisan basis
What is the problem with neutral competence of the bureaucracy?: Once a bureaucrat is part of the system, they develop a system toward party preference and are no longer neutral
What is objective responsibility?: (Feiner) The system relies on objective, external controls to bring bureaucrats in alignment with citizens' desires and administrative acts
What is subjective responsibility?: (Friedrich) Responsibility should come from within. The administrator's concern for the public interest is the only way to ensure administrative responsibility
What are suggestions to achieve administrative responsibility?: neutral competence of the bureaucracy, objective responsibiity, subjective responsibility, citizen-administator, and public participation
What is the citizen-administrator role?: (Cooper) It is the duty of the citizens to ensure that administrative responsibility is met. Citizenship comes with rights and responsiblities
What is public participation?: It recquires the direct involvement of the citizens in decision making. This can be done through open hearing, polling, placing citizens on advisory boards, cooptation
What is the problem with public participation?: Citizens may not be competent to make these decisions. Some citizens don't want that responsibility
What is cooptation?: (Selznick) When systems see a threat from the outside, involve them so that the threat is no longer a threat. Get the citizens involved, but do not give them any real power
What is a representative bureaucracy?: The bureaucracy reflects the demographic characteristics of an area/population. If it reflects the demographics, it will reflect the concerns of it's citizens.
What is the problem with representative bureaucracy?: Sometimes bureacuracy does not reflect the preferences of the people. Once become part of the bureaucracy, your preferences change
What is the strong ethical dilemma in the council-manager system?: Questions how far one should follow the decree of the council members. It is the responsibility of a manager to only follow a "democratic" government. Manager should only follow responsible council members. If not, he/she is under no obligatio nto follow
What is the dilemma of following orders?: Obedience is an important part of bureacuracy. People will blindly follow irrespective of content, ignore own conscience, follow orders because they believe it's coming from a legitimate authority
What are the reasons for the privatization dilemma?: private and non-profit sectors are a large provider of public services, Motivations of private sector defers (Want to maximize profits by cutting costs or increase revenues), Service "ethos" does not exist for private sector, how to ensure equity and accountability
What is the Johnson Executive Order?: (1965) Demanding public disclosure of financial statements
What is the Ethics and Government Act?: (1978) Provided detailed guidelines of monitoring public official's behavior
What is the Hatch Act?: (1993) Reforms introduced on political activity of officials
What is value-based leadership?: ethical standards must be exacting, must have common sense in standars, equitable standards required for all 3 branches of govt, and standards must not be unnecessarily restrictive
What is the whistleblowers dilemma?: The whistleblower provides info on fraud, waste, etc.
What are the steps in whistleblowing?: become aware, express concern to supervisor, take problem outside through a leak
What are the 2 kinds of recourses in being sued for actions in course of official duty?: absolute immunity and qualified immunity
What is absolute immunity?: under no circumstance is public office liable for any damages
What is qualified immunity?: If the official can show that they were acting in good faith, they are safe
What are the 4 steps in fostering an ethical climate?: Ethics audit (clarify the value system the organization subscribes to), develop clear statement of ethics for the org, have training programs to know what ethics of the org are, lead by example
What are ways to manage ethics?: through formal controls, strong ethical leadership, develop communication channels that provide feedback and clarify ethics, and fostering an ethical climate
What are the budgeting differences between business and government?: Publicness (open to scrutiny) and size of the budget (huge fed budget)
What is a budget?: A tool for planning, prioritizing expenditures, guiding operations, providing accountability and control
What is fiscal policy?: It analyzes the effect of government taxation and spending of the economy.
What is an overheated economy? What needs to be done? how?: high rate of inflation and low level of unemployment. Money needs to be taken out of the system. Done by raising taxes or the govt reducing own spending.
How can the government stimulate the economy?: Through fiscal policy. Can put more money into the economy by decreasing taxes that will increase spending and stimulate production to stimulate spending.
What are the 7 elements of budgeting?: Sources of revenue, Expenditures, Deficits, 4 Phases, Approaches, Types, and Strategies
How do governments obtain revenue?: From their own sources (ex. taxation) and transfers from other governments
What are the three criteria governments need to keep in mind in introducting new taxes?: fairness (taxes must be fair), efficiency (is the need high enough to support the cost of collecting that tax), and simplicity (to understand and apply)
What are the 3 categories of taxes?: proportional, progressive, and regressive
What are proportional taxes?: A flat tax. Same rate of tax applies to everyone.
What are progressive taxes?: Those with higher income levels pay tax at a higher rate.
What are regressive taxes?: Those with lower levels of income pay taxes at higher rates
What are the five types of taxes?: Individual income tax, Corporate income tax, Payroll tax, Sales and excise tax, and Property tax
Describe individual income tax?: It is the single, most important source for the U.S. goveernment and the primary source of income for the federal govt
Describe payroll tax.: It is the 2nd largest source of federal revenue. Used to support social security. Involves employer contribution
What are sales and excise taxes?: taxes levied on goods and services
What are excise taxes?: May be used as a user charge, can be a consumption tax (designed to discourage consumption)
What is sales tax?: tax on a broad range of goods and services. Sales typically go to state and local governments
Describe property taxes: They go to the local government. There are many restrictions on use. Getting marginalized
What is the expenditure element in budgeting?: Governments choose which programs to support each year and decide at what level to support them. The budget must necessarily reflect these 2.
What are the 2 important kinds of programs for spending?: Entitlement programs and discretionary spending
What are entitlement programs?: The congress decides to provide certain programs generally related to welfare and based on some eligibility recquirement. Receives almost automatic funding. "Uncontrollable" expenditures. Constitues 50% of the budget
What is dicretionary spending?: It is a very small proportion of the budget (1/3) Congress and the president have a choice on which programs to support.
What are deficits?: excess spending over income.
What was Keynes view of deficits?: It can be an important tool of fiscal policy because when government spending is more, it puts money into the economy
What are the problems with deficits?: when there's a large deficit,the government shells out a lot of interest, it erodes , limits private investment, and a slow down of the economy can result
What are the 4 phases of the budget?: budget formulation, approval, execution, and audit
What are the 5 steps in budget formulation?: set parameters for the budget, agencies prepare budgets and send them to the budget office, meetins and hearings are held at the budget office, the budget office prepares the budget document, and the chief executive transmits budget to the legislature
Who is the primary person responsible for the budget at the state level?: The governor
Who is the primary person responsible for the budget at the federal level?: the president
What are the 4 steps in buddget approval?: budget submitted to legislature for approval, legislature passes parts of budget document to relevant committees for review, committee holds hearings, approval of budget by legislautre
Who are the important agents in the budget approval process?: Legislators, committees, and Congressional Budget Office
Who are the important agents in the budget formulation process?: the governor or president and the budget office
QUIZ: Public administration can be briefly defined as...: the management of public programs
QUIZ: T/F? In order to accomplish work tasks, one must have conceptual, technical and human skills.: TRUE
QUIZ: T/F? Public administration in contemporary America faces a significant tension between the demands for efficiency and responsiveness.: TRUE
QUIZ: T/F? Diversity of interests seeking to affect public policy is the nature and essence of democratic governance.: TRUE
QUIZ: Public policies are...: authoritative statements by legitimate governmental actors about public problems

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