the policy-making process public policies don't create themselves rather many groups both public and private contribute to what is known as the policy-making process the policy-making process is the process by which policy comes into creation and evolves over time and the American government system before we get into the system itself let's go over some vital vocabulary to aid us in our discussion the political agenda consists of issues that people believe require governmental action issues that are currently on the political agenda include things like the legality of abortion and gun control a cost is a burden that people believe they must bear if a policy is enacted cost can be any burden whether it is a literal monetary cost or a non-monetary cost a benefit is a satisfaction that people believe they will enjoy if a policy is adopted similar to a cost a benefit can be monetary but it doesn't have to be process regulations are rules that govern commercial activities they are designed to improve consumer worker or environmental conditions now there are five types of public policy a congressional statute is a law passed by Congress a presidential action is the decision by a president mostly influencing organizations under the executive branch a court decision is an opinion of the Supreme Court or other court a budgetary choice is legislative enactment of taxes and/or expenditures a regulation is when an agency adopts a rule these forms of public policy are curated through the policy-making process the first and important step is agenda-setting which happens when public attention focuses on a public problem or issue public officials can contribute by using words and actions to aim attention from there is policy formation this is when policymakers in the legislators and bureaucracy take up the issue Baker a legislative regulatory or programmatic strategies to address the problem once the policy is formulated then it is time for policy adoption this is when policymakers formally adopt a policy solution usually in the form of legislation or rules after that is policy implementation which government agencies begin the job of making the policy work by establishing procedures writing guidelines or issuing grants and aid to other government agencies once the policy is implemented it goes on to policy evaluation this is the viewing of the policy from both inside and outside the government to determine if the policy is addressing the problem it originally set out to resolve from here the policy can go into revision this is an optional step based on what was decided in policy evaluation revision is when the policy is changed or corrected to improve the outcomes the beginning of this process can be viewed in this political cartoon it shows the unethical practices of the drug and food industry during the early 20th century political cartoons such as this help set the political agenda and caused Congress to pass the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 this pact prohibited dangerous additives and inaccurate labels in the manufacturing of food and drugs and later aided in the creation of the Food and Drug Administration while a policy is created to solve a problem for a group of people someone has to pay for its implementation there are four main kinds of politics and relationships between houma policy benefits and whom it costs first is majoritarian politics this is a policy in which almost everybody benefits and most everybody pays interest group politics is a policy in which one small group benefits and another small group pays client politics is a policy in which one small group benefits and almost everybody pays entrepreneurship politics is a policy in which almost everybody benefits and a small group pays the cost in entrepreneurship politics there is what is known as policy entrepreneurs policy entrepreneurs are activists who can either be in or out of government who pull together a political majority on behalf of unorganized interest these four types of politics can be viewed easily in this diagram the size of the government is always increasing the national government often adopts policy ideas that were originally pioneered by state and local governments the creation of new agencies and policies allow for the scope of the government to grow further as said by President Gerald Ford a government big enough to give you everything you want is a government big enough to take from you everything you have officials have a variety of motivations to create policies while many policies are created out of altruism for the general public there are two other frequent motivations behind policymaking the first is known as pork barrel legislation this is legislation that gives tangible benefits to its constituents in several districts or states in hopes of winning their votes in return due to being able to be reelected an unlimited number of times congressmen are constantly trying to please their constituents to aid them in their next election there is also what is known as log rolling this is when a legislator supports a proposal favored by another congressman a return for support on his or her piece of legislation this is like a congressman saying I will support your policy if you support mine to recap let's do a self-check true or false entrepreneurial politics cannot occur without the leadership of a policy entrepreneur you have 10 seconds the correct answer is false it can occur with or without such leadership let's try another true or false the bureaucracy reacts to policy and is not a source of policy you have ten seconds the correct answer is false increasingly the bureaucracy is a major source of policy innovation now let's try some multiple-choice style questions the most important decision that affects policymaking and least notice is the decision to a enact the policy agenda be determine what to make the policy about see enforce the policy agenda D fund the policy agenda or e fund and enforce the policy agenda you have 15 seconds the correct answer is B determine what to make policy about let's try another an example of a policy characterized by distributed benefits and distributed cost is a a tariff on bicycle chains B farm subsidies C dairy subsidies D the construction of a dam or e increased Social Security benefits you have 15 seconds the correct answer is e increase Social Security benefits through the six steps of agenda-setting policy formulation adoption implementation evaluation and revision policies are created you