Key Terms
- bottom-up implementation
- a strategy in which the federal government allows local areas some flexibility to meet their specific challenges and needs in implementing policy
- Congressional Budget Office
- the congressional office that scores the spending or revenue impact of all proposed legislation to assess its net effect on the budget
- debt
- the total amount the government owes across all years
- deficit
- the annual amount by which expenditures are greater than revenues
- discretionary spending
- government spending that Congress must pass legislation to authorize each year
- distributive policy
- a policy that collect payments or resources broadly but concentrates direct benefits on relatively few
- entitlement
- a program that guarantees benefits to members of a specific group or segment of the population
- excise taxes
- taxes applied to specific goods or services as a source of revenue
- free-market economics
- a school of thought that believes the forces of supply and demand, working without any government intervention, are the most effective way for markets to operate
- Keynesian economics
- an economic policy based on the idea that economic growth is closely tied to the ability of individuals to consume goods
- laissez-faire
- an economic policy that assumes the key to economic growth and development is for the government to allow private markets to operate efficiently without interference
- libertarians
- people who believe that government almost always operates less efficiently than the private sector and that its actions should be kept to a minimum
- mandatory spending
- government spending earmarked for entitlement programs guaranteeing support to those who meet certain qualifications
- Medicaid
- a health insurance program for low-income citizens
- Medicare
- an entitlement health insurance program for older people and retirees who no longer get health insurance through their work
- policy advocates
- people who actively work to propose or maintain public policy
- policy analysts
- people who identify all possible choices available to a decision maker and assess the potential impact of each
- progressive tax
- a tax that tends to increase the effective tax rate as the wealth or income of the tax payer increases
- public policy
- the broad strategy government uses to do its job; the relatively stable set of purposive governmental behaviors that address matters of concern to some part of society
- recession
- a temporary contraction of the economy in which there is no economic growth for two consecutive quarters
- redistributive policy
- a policy in which costs are born by a relatively small number of groups or individuals, but benefits are expected to be enjoyed by a different group in society
- regressive tax
- a tax applied at a lower overall rate as individuals’ income rises
- regulatory policy
- a policy that regulates companies and organizations in a way that protects the public
- safety net
- a way to provide for members of society experiencing economic hardship
- Social Security
- a social welfare policy for people who no longer receive an income from employment
- supply-side economics
- an economic policy that assumes economic growth is largely a function of a country’s productive capacity
- top-down implementation
- a strategy in which the federal government dictates the specifics of public policy and each state implements it the same exact way
