1. Peters, in your textbook, says evaluating public programs is “actually very difficult” and “several barriers stand in the way.” Why is evaluation difficult and what are the barriers? How do we do evaluation with these challenges as part of the process?
2. Please summarize Figure 9.1 in your book. In a narrative, what does the chart say about the value of the U.S. minimum wage over time. What does the author attribute to the decline in the curve seen in the 1990s?
3. What does the author say are the two major factors in taxpayer’s minds regarding paying taxes? Please elaborate on both. In your own words.
4. Your book discusses fundamental problems troubling health care consumers and policymakers, and you addressed these in an online assignment. What are the barriers that prevent the system from successfully resolving these problems? Please be specific, use your own words, do not copy from the book.
5. The book, in the last chapter, discussed analyzing public policy using cost-benefit and ethical analysis. Please define both, compare and contrast. What do you think are the challenges of applying both to government programs, and be specific? Can all government programs be analyzed using both? Road paving and literacy testing, for example?
Peters, Guy. American Public Policy: Promise and Performance, 9th Edition. CQ Press, 2012. Latest edition in your library will be sufficient.