Making Public Policy

Readings

In addition to reading the material for each class session, students are expected to stay up to date with current U.S. public policy news. Suggested ways include reading a daily newspaper (The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, or The Boston Globe) or listening to radio news.

SES #	TOPICS	READINGS
1	Introduction	None
I: A (Brief) Policy and Politics Framework
2	An Introduction to Policy and Politics	Theory Readings Ideology Friedman, Milton. Capitalism and Freedom. University of Chicago Press, 2002, pp. 1–36. ISBN: 9780226264219. [Preview with Google Books] Kuttner, Robert. “The Limits of Markets.” The American Prospect, December 19, 2001. Romer, John E. Equality of Opportunity. Harvard University Press, 2000, pp. 1–12. ISBN: 9780674004221. [Preview with Google Books] Public Policymaking Kingdon, John W. Chapter 9 in Agendas, Alternatives, and Public Policies. 2nd ed. Harper Collins, 1995 pp. 196–208. Electoral Connection Mayhew, David. Congress: The Electoral Connection. Yale University Press, 1974, pp. 13–17. Stimson, James, Michael MacKuen, and Robert S. Erikson. “Dynamic Representation.” In Principles and Practice of American Politics. CQ Press, 2012, pp. 466–80.
II: Setting the Agenda and Shaping Policy Options
3	Health Care: Interest Groups and Public Opinion – Defining the Problem in the Contemporary Era	Case Readings “The Health Report to the American People.” Citizens’ Health Care Working Group. March 31, 2006. (Read section I, “A Snapshot of Healthcare Issues in America,” 1–2, and Section V, “Health Care Access: Not Getting the Health Care You Need,” 15–19.) Skocpol, Theda. “Introduction.” In Boomerang Health Care Reform and the Turn against Government. W. W. Norton & Company, 1997, pp. 1–19. ISBN: 9780393315721. Blendon, Robert J., and John M. Benson. “Americans’ Views on Health Policy: A Fifty-Year Historical Perspective.” Health Affairs 20, no. 2 (2001): 33–46. Blendon, Robert J., and John M. Benson. “Public Opinion at the Time of the Vote on Health Care.” New England Journal of Medicine 362 (2010): 55.
4	Health Care: Passing Health-Care Reform in Congress	Theory Readings Congressional Action Arnold, R. Douglas. The Logic of Congressional Action. Yale University Press, 1990, pp. 3–16. ISBN: 9780300048346. Krehbiel, Keith. Pivotal Politics: A Theory of U.S. Lawmaking. University of Chicago Press, 1998, pp. 20–48. ISBN: 9780226452722. [Preview with Google Books] Case Readings Cohn, Jonathan. “How They Did It.” The New Republic, June 2010, 14–25. Oberlander, Jonathan. “Long Time Coming: Why Health Reform Finally Passed.” Health Affairs 29, no. 6 (2010): 1112–6. “Public Health Insurance Option,” The Huffington Post, March 25, 2010. Cannon, Michael F. “Yes, Mr. President. A Free Market Can Fix Health Care.” (PDF) Cato Institute Policy Analysis, no. 650 (2009).
5	Health Care: Implementing Health-Care Reform	Case Readings Introduction Skocpol, Theda. “The Political Challenges That May Undermine Health Reform.” Health Affairs 29, no. 7 (2010): 1288–92. Legal Challenges Liptak, Adam. “Health Law Puts Focus on Limits of Federal Power,” The New York Times, November 13, 2011. “A Clean Bill of Health,” The Economist, July 28, 2012. State-level Implementation Jost, Timothy. “Implementing Health Reform: A GAO Progress Report on the Exchanges.” Health Affairs Blog, June 2013. Luthra, Shefali. “Promoting Health Insurance Exchange, with No Help from State,” The New York Times, July 18, 2013. Abelson, Reed. “Choice of Health Plans to Vary Sharply from State to State,” The New York Times, June 16, 2013. Campbell, Andrea Louise. “The Future of U.S. Health Care,” Boston Review, August 2012.
6	Policy Evaluation: Health Care and Gun Control	Theory Readings Policy Evaluation Singleton, Royce A., and Bruce C. Straits. Approaches to Social Research. 5th ed. Oxford University Press, 2009, pp. 1–12. ISBN: 9780195372984. Howlett, Michael, M. Ramesh, and Anthony Perl. “Policy Evaluation: Policy-Making as Policy Learning.” In Studying Public Policy: Policy Cycles and Policy Subsystems. Oxford University Press, 2009, pp. 171–85 ISBN: 9780195428025. Case Readings Health Care and Gun Control Massachusetts Health Care Reform: Six Years Later (PDF). Kaiser Family Foundation. 2012. (read Executive Summary on p.1 and table on p. 9 closely; skim the rest) Baicker, Katherine, et al. “The Oregon Experiment—Effects of Medicaid on Clinical Outcomes.” New England Journal of Medicine 368 (2013): 1713–22. Cohn, Jonathon. “Obamacare’s Impact on the Uninsured, State by State.” The New Republic, August 2014. Miller, Michal, Deborah Azrael, and David Hemenway. “Firearms and Violent Death in the United States.” In Reducing Gun Violence in America: Informing Policy with Evidence and Analysis. Johns Hopkins University Press, 2013. ISBN: 9781421411101. [Preview with Google Books] Aneja, Abhay, et al. “The Impact of Right to Carry Laws and the NRC Report: The Latest Lessons for the Empirical Evaluation of Law and Policy.” NBER Working Paper no. 18294, 2012. VerBruggen, Robert. “More Handguns, Less Crime—or More?” The American Spectator, June 2010.
7	Gun Control: Agenda Setting and Issue Framing	Theory Readings Advocates (Interest Groups) and Their Stories Stone, Deborah. “Causal Stories and the Formation of Policy Agendas.” Political Science Quarterly 104, no. 2 (1989): 281–300. Case Readings Lepore, Jill. “Battleground America,” The New Yorker, April 23, 2012. Toobin, Jeffrey. “So You Think You Know the Second Amendment?” The New Yorker, December 17, 2012. Goldberg, Jeffrey. “The Case for More Guns (And More Gun Control).” The Atlantic Monthly, December 2012.  The Institute for Legislative Action: The Lobbying Arm of the NRA. National Rifle Association. Explore the Everytown for Gun Safety website. Explore the Americans for Responsible Solutions website.
8	Gun Control: Organized and Unorganized Interests Guest Lecture: Professor Regina Bateson	Theory Readings Interest Group Organization Olson, Mancur. “The Logic of Collective Action.” In The Enduring Debate: Classic and Contemporary Readings in American Politics. W. W. Norton & Company, 2013, pp. 425–33. ISBN: 9780393921588. Bateson, Regina. “Crime Victimization and Political Participation.” American Political Science Review 106, no. 3 (2012): 570–87. (Read intro/conclusion; skim regression results) Case Readings Goss, Kristin A. Chapter 1 in Disarmed: The Missing Movement for Gun Control in America. Princeton University Press, 2006. ISBN: 9780691124247. [Preview with Google Books] Zernike, Kate. “Christie Veto of Gun Control Bill Angers Relatives of Newtown Victims,” The New York Times, July 3, 2014. Weisman, Jonathan. “Senate Blocks Drive for Gun Control,” The New York Times, April 17, 2013. Cobb, Jelani. “Perceived Threats,” The New Yorker, July 29, 2013. Barron, James. “Taking a Bullet, Gaining a Cause: James S. Brady Dies at 73,” The New York Times, August 4, 2014. North, Michael J. “Gun Control in Great Britain after the Dunblane Shootings.” In Reducing Gun Violence in America: Informing Policy with Evidence and Analysis. Johns Hopkins University Press, 2013. ISBN: 9781421411101. [Preview with Google Books]
9	Gun Control: Policy and Evaluation	Case Readings Gopnik, Adam. “A Few Simple Ideas about Gun Control,” The New Yorker, October 1, 2013. Christie, Drew. “The Ghost of Gun Control.” April 22, 2013. The New York Times, Accessed June 24, 2015. http://www.nytimes.com/video/opinion/100000002184971/the-ghost-of-gun-control.html Peters, Rebecca. “Rational Firearm Regulation: Evidence-based Gun Laws in Australia.” In Reducing Gun Violence in America: Informing Policy with Evidence and Analysis. Johns Hopkins University Press, 2013. ISBN: 9781421411101. [Preview with Google Books] Alpers, Philip. “The Big Melt: How One Democracy Changed after Scrapping a Third of its Firearms.” In Reducing Gun Violence in America: Informing Policy with Evidence and Analysis. Johns Hopkins University Press, 2013. ISBN: 9781421411101. [Preview with Google Books] Miller, Michal, Deborah Azrael, and David Hemenway. “Consensus Recommendations for Reforms to Federal Gun Policies.” In Reducing Gun Violence in America: Informing Policy with Evidence and Analysis. Johns Hopkins University Press, 2013. ISBN: 9781421411101. [Preview with Google Books] Cook, Philip J., and Jens Ludwig. “The Limited Impact of the Brady Act.” In Reducing Gun Violence in America: Informing Policy with Evidence and Analysis. Johns Hopkins University Press, 2013. ISBN: 9781421411101.
III: Making Policy Decisions
10	Federal Budget: Recession, Deficit, and Problem Definition	Case Readings Problem Definition Congressional Digest. “The Deficit and the Debt: Meeting America’s Fiscal Challenges,” February 2010. National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform (Simpson-Bowles Commission). “The Moment of Truth,” (PDF - 1.5MB) December 2010, pp. 6–16. Krugman, Paul. “Nobody Understands Debt,” The New York Times, January 1, 2012. Burman, Leonard. Taxes and Inequality (PDF), 2014. Case Readings Interest Groups Wasson, Erik. “Liberals Fear Betrayal by Obama on Social Security,” The Hill, January 5, 2011.
11	Federal Budget: Recession, Deficit, and Problem Definition (cont.)	Case Readings Political Context Zeleny, Jeff. “G. O. P. Captures House, but Not Senate,” The New York Times, November 2, 2010. Case Readings The Debt Ceiling, Fiscal Cliff, and Sequester Cha, Ariana Eunjung. “What’s the Debt Ceiling, and Why is Everyone in Washington Talking about It?” The Washington Post, April 18, 2011. Dennis, Brady, Alex MacGillis, et al. “The Origins of a Showdown,” The Washington Post, August 7, 2011. Weisman, Jonathan. “Q & A: Understanding the Fiscal Cliff,” The New York Times, November 14, 2012. In class Watch Cliffhanger (Frontline documentary) In recitation Solve the deficit
12	Federal Budget: Legislative Tactics – The Fiscal Cliff and the Sequester	Case Readings Ball, Molly. “What Do the People Want From the Fiscal-Cliff Deal?” The Atlantic Monthly, November 2012. Bresnahan, John, Carrie Budoff Brown, et al. “The Fiscal Cliff Deal that Almost Wasn’t,” Politico, January 2, 2013. “Nothing to be Proud Of.” The Economist, January 5, 2013. Matthews, Dylan. “The Sequester: Absolutely Everything You Could Possibly Need to Know, in One FAQ,” The Washington Post, February 20, 2013.
13	Immigration Reform: History, Economic Impacts, and Current Policy	Case Readings Clarkson, Stephen, and Matto Mildenberger. “Supplying Workers for the US Labour Market” In Dependent America: How Canada and Mexico Construct U.S. Power. University of Toronto Press, 2011. ISBN: 9781442612778. [Preview with Google Books] Immigration Policy Center. “How the United States Immigration System Works: A Fact Sheet.” 2014. Card, D. “The Impact of the Mariel Boatlift on the Miami Labor Market.” Industrial and Labor Relations Review 43, no. 2 (1990): 245–57. (Skim) Borjas, George J. “For a Few Dollars Less,” The Wall Street Journal, April 2006. Lowenstein, Roger. “The Immigration Equation,” The New York Times Magazine, July 2006.
14	Immigration Reform: Legislative Efforts and the Electoral Connection	Theory Readings Executive’s Relations with Congress Kingdon, John W. Agendas, Alternatives and Public Policies. 2nd ed. Longman, 1995, pp. 21-30. Davidson, Roger H. “Presidential Relations with Congress.” In Understanding the Presidency. 6th ed. Longman, 2011, pp. 253–67. Case Readings Lizza, Ryan. “Getting to Maybe,” The New Yorker, June 24, 2013. Weiner, Rachel. “How Immigration Reform Failed, Over and Over,” The Washington Post, January 30, 2013. PBS NewsHour. “Will 2014 Yield Immigration Reform?” December 23, 2013. YouTube. Accessed June 24, 2015. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yN0hoiok8pA Weisman, Jonathan. “On Immigration, G. O. P. Starts to Embrace Tea Party,” The New York Times, August 2, 2014. Lopaz, Mark Hugo, and Paul Taylor. “Latino Voters in the 2012 Election.” Pew Research Hispanic Trends Project, 2012. Vavreck, Lynn. “It’s Not Too Late for Republicans to Win Latino Votes,” The New York Times, August 11, 2014.
15	Immigration Reform: Executive Action	Theory Readings Executive Branch and Public Policy Moe, Terry M., and William G. Howell. “Unilateral Action and Presidential Power: A Theory.” Presidential Studies Quarterly 29, no. 4 (1999): 850–73. Case Readings Lind, Dara. “How a Controversial Obama Program is Bringing Young Immigrants out of the Shadows.” Vox, 2014.  Hager, Emily B., and Natalia V. Osipova. “One Family Faces the Immigration Debate.” August 18, 2014. The New York Times. Accessed on June 24, 2015. http://www.nytimes.com/video/us/100000003031733/one-family-faces-the-immigration-debate.html Davis, Julie H. “Behind Closed Doors, Obama Crafts Executive Actions,” The New York Times, Aug 8, 2014. Washington Post Editorial Board. “Frustration Over Stalled Immigration Action doesn’t mean Obama can act Unilaterally,” The Washington Post, Aug 5, 2014. New York Times Editorial Board. “Mr. Obama, Your Move,” The New York Times_,_ August 9, 2014. Gerstein, Josh. “Barack Obama’s Immigration Moves could be Unstoppable,” Politico, July 2014.
16	Gay Marriage: Making Social Policy at the Federal Level	Case Readings Hoch, Maureen. “The Battle over Same-Sex Marriage: Marriage and the States,” PBS Online NewsHour, April 30, 2004. “A Massachusetts Court Starts a National Debate That Poses Problems for Both the Republicans and the Democrats.” The Economist, November 20, 2003. Stout, David. “Bush Backs Ban in Constitution on Gay Marriage,” The New York Times, February 24, 2004. Murray, Shailagh. “Gay Marriage Amendment Fails in Senate,” The Washington Post, June 8, 2006. Kaminer, Wendy. “Why Do We Care What Obama Thinks About Gay Marriage?” The Atlantic Monthly, May 2012. Sorensen, Adam. “Obama’s Persuasive Powers on Gay Marriage Manifest in Maryland,” Time, May 24, 2012.
17	Gay Marriage: Making Policy in the States	Theory Readings Public Opinion and Federalism Peterson, Paul. “The Price of Federalism.” In The Enduring Debate: Classic and Contemporary Readings in American Politics. W. W. Norton & Company, 2013, pp. 73–81. ISBN: 9780393921588. Lax, Jeffrey, and Justin Philips. “Gay Rights in the States: Public Opinion and Policy Responsiveness.” American Political Science Review 103, no. 3 (2009). (Skim) Case Readings Graff, E. J. “Marital Blitz.” The American Prospect 17, no. 3 (2006). “Dispatches from the Culture Wars: Bad News for Gays, Good News for Stoners,” The Economist, November 6, 2008. Gelman, Andrew, Jeffrey Lax, et al. “Over Time. A Gay Marriage Groundswell,” The New York Times, August 22, 2010. Ball, Molly. “A Coming Wave of Gay Marriage Electoral Victories?” The Atlantic Monthly, August 2011. Ben Brumfield. “Voters Approve Same-sex Marriage for the First Time.” CNN.com, November 7, 2012.
18	Gay Marriage: Making Policy in Court	Theory Readings Judicial Policymaking Tarr, Alan. Judicial Process and Judicial Policymaking. 3rd ed. Thompson Custom Publishing, 2003, pp. 281–88. ISBN: 9780534037130. Friedman, Leon. “Overruling the Court.” In The Enduring Debate: Classic and Contemporary Readings in American Politics. W. W. Norton & Company, 2013, pp. 263–67. ISBN: 9780393921588. Case Readings Talbot, Margaret. “A Risky Proposal,” The New Yorker, January 18, 2010. Duncan, William. “Same-Sex Marriage: The Tortuous Road to the Supreme Court,” Supreme Court of the United State Blog, August 17, 2011. Tribe, Lawrence. “The Constitutional Inevitability of Same-Sex Marriage.” Supreme Court of the United State Blog, August 26, 2011. (Read excerpt only.) Liptak, Adam. “Supreme Court Bolsters Gay Marriage with Two Major Rulings,” The New York Times, June 26, 2013.
19	Guest Speaker	None
IV: Putting It All Together: The Policymaking Process
20	Climate Change: Science, Public Opinion, and the Media	Case Readings Boykoff, Maxwell T., and M. Jules. “Balance as Bias: Global Warming and the U.S. Prestige Press.” Global Environmental Change 14, no. 2 (2004): 125–36. (Skim) Jacques, Peter J., Riley E. Dunlap, et al. “The Organisation of Denial: Conservative Think Tanks and Environmental Skepticism.” Environmental Politics 17, no. 3 (2008): 349–85. (Skim) Hansen, James, Makiko Sato, et al. “Perception of Climate Change.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 109 no. 37 (2012): E2415–23. (Skim) Kolbert, Elizabeth. “The Catastrophist,” The New Yorker, June 29, 2009. Banerjee, Neela. “Scientist Proves Conservatism and Belief in Climate Change aren’t Incompatible,” Los Angeles Times, January 11, 2005. Klein, Ezra. “How Politics Makes us Stupid.” Vox. April 2014. Yale Project on Climate Change Communication. “Politics & Global Warming, Spring 2014” 2014 (Skim for key facts).
21	Climate Change: Federal Action in Congress and the Executive Branch	Case Readings Lizza, Ryan. “As the World Burns,” The New Yorker, October 11, 2010. Davenport, Coral, and Peter Baker. “Taking Page From Health Care Act, Obama Climate Plan Relies on States,” The New York Times, June 2, 2014. Kolbert, Elizabeth. “Power Politics: Obama’s Overdue Climate-Change Speech,” The New Yorker, June 25, 2014. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency_._ “Clean Power Plan Explained.” June 2, 2004. YouTube. Accessed June 24, 2015. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcNTGX_d8mY Liptak, Adam. “Justices Uphold Emission Limits on Big Industry,” The New York Times, June 23, 2014. Gillis, Justin, and Michael Wines. “In Some States, Emissions Cuts Defy Skeptics,” The New York Times, June 6, 2014.
22	Climate Change: Policy Options	Case Readings Stavins, Robert. “Market-Based Environmental Policies: What Can We Learn From the U.S. Experience (and Related Research)?” In Moving to Markets in Environmental Regulation: Lessons From Twenty Years of Experience. Edited by Jody Freeman and Charles D. Kolstad. Oxford University Press, 2006, pp. 19–47. ISBN: 9780195189650. [Preview with Google Books] Victor, David. “Climate Change: Debating America’s Policy Options.” Council on Foreign Relations, 2014, pp. 1–8. Khosla, Vinod. “A Simpler Path to Cutting Carbon Emissions,” The Washington Post, July 2, 2010. Struck, Doug. “Buying Carbon Offsets May Ease Eco-Guilt but Not Global Warming,” Christian Science Monitor, April 20, 2010. Kolbert, Elizabeth. “Hosed; Is There a Quick Fix for the Climate?” The New Yorker, November 16, 2009. EPA State and Logcal Climate and Energy Program. “Renewable Energy.” U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Rabe, B. G. Chapter 1 in Statehouse and Greenhouse: The Emerging Politics of American Climate Change Policy. Brookings Institution Press, 2004. ISBN: 9780815773092. (Skim)
23	Climate Change: State Action and the Arizona Net-Metering Case	Case Readings Rabe, B. G. “Race to the Top: The Expanding Role of U.S. State Renewable Portfolio Standards.” Sustainable Development Law & Policy 7, no. 3 (2007): 10–16. Barnes, Justin, and Chelsea Barnes. “2013 RPS Legislation: Gauging the Impacts.” (PDF) Solar Today 27, no. 7 (2013): 17–19. Cardwell, Diane. “A Pushback on Green Power,” The New York Times, May 28, 2014. Randazzo, Ryan, and Robert Anglen. “APS, Solar Companies Clash over Credits to Customers.” The Arizona Republic, October 21, 2013. The Arizona Republic. “Solar Future Up For Grabs in Arizona.” Accessed June 24, 2015.  Explore the Alliance for Solar Choice website. Arizona’s Energy Future. “Net Metering.” Arizona Public Service. Prosper Org. “Ice Cream for Fairness!” October 21, 2013. YouTube. Accessed June 24, 2015. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v-zJ8tToIeQ_U Arizona Solar Facts. “Corporate Welfare.” July 2, 2013. YouTube. Accessed June 24, 2015. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZOi-_sPF6s Arizona Solar Facts. “Who is TUSK?” September 11, 2013. YouTube. Accessed June 24, 2015. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBL2fOZNLzg Davenport, Coral. “Pushing Climate Change as an Issue This Year, but With an Eye on 2016,” The New York Times, May 22, 2014. Schwartz, John. “Fissures in G. O. P. as Some Conservatives Embrace Renewable Energy,” The New York Times, January 25, 2014.
V: Wrapping It Up
24	Summary Class	None
25	Final Oral Project	None
26	Final Oral Project (cont.)	None