10:833:210 Chapter Notes - Chapter 1: Policy Analysis, Sustainable Development, Market Failure

• School: Rutgers University
• Department: Public Policy
• Course: 10:833:210
• Professor: Marci Berger

Document Summary

Public policy (book definition) what public officials within government, and by extension the citizens they represent, choose to do or not to do about public problems. Public problems conditions the public widely perceives to be unacceptable and requires intervention. Ex) environmental degradation, insufficient access to healthcare services. Types of action: government action vs private action, or a combination of the two. Choice depends on how the public defines the problem and on prevailing societal attitudes about private actions vs. government action. Policy a purposive course of action that an individual or group consistently follows in dealing with a problem. Policy outputs the formal actions that governments take to pursue their goals. Policy outcomes the effects such actions have on society. Any level of government, federal, state, or local, may be involved in a policy effort due to social problems and public demand for actions on them. Proponents of policy actions look for goals that affect all members of society.