PPPA 6006 – Policy Analysis
Spring 2017 – Problem Set #1
Before beginning, read the blog entry by Jason F(class I’d like to teach) on Blackboard under “Assignments.”
(1) Skim the Congressional Budget Office’s December 2015 report “Social Security Policy Options” (on Blackboard under “Assignments”) and, recalling the overview of the policy analysis process that we discussed in our first class meeting, provide the following information (12.5 points per item):
1(a) In 2 sentences, write a succinct, yet complete, statement of the problem as defined by CBO. (See pp 1-6 and Figure 4 in the report.)
1(b) List the three most important factors that CBO offers in support of its problem definition. Use a single sentence to describe each factor. (See pp 6-8.)
1(c) Scan pp 12-16, and then pick two of the 36 policy options listed by CBO. Clearly describe them in no more than 2 sentences each. Bear in mind the distinction between Bardach’s Steps 3 and 5. This question addresses only Step 3. Assume your reader has a general understanding of social security, but not of its underlying finances.
1(d) List (in bullet form) the three evaluation criteria applied by CBO in its analysis, and summarize each in a single sentence. Bardach defines criteria as “evaluative standards used to judge the goodness of the projected policy outcomes … of the alternatives.” (See pages 18-22.)
(2) Read the Flu Vaccine Case Study (on Blackboard). Note that it is an account of events that occurred in the early 2000s. As you answer the questions, assume that it is late 2005. (In answering this question, it may help to review pp 1-12 of Bardach and Patashnik, and the Vesely reading.)
2(a) In a single sentence, identify the core public policy problem here. Be sure to take a forward-looking or prospective, rather than a historical or retrospective, view of the problem. Additional research is unnecessary; simply apply common knowledge, careful thinking, and information from the case. (15 points)
2(b) Applying the “Five Whys” and “Five So-Whats?” technique, build a problem tree for the problem definition you provided in 2(a). It should be modeled closely on Figures 1 and 2 from the Vesely reading. It must be in graphic form and on one page. A handwritten submission is fine (but neatness counts). (35 points)
